Love Would Save Us
by SpixieIsTrueLove2289
Summary: He took a bullet for her and it changed everything. A Spinelli and Maxie love story starting from the first night they slept together. Will their love save each other? READ AND REVIEW!
1. The Jackal

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Love would save us

_Author's Note:_

_Hello this is a Spixie story of how I think Maxie will realize she's in love with Spinelli. It basically takes place in current storylines of GH, Spinelli and Maxie slept together after Anthony kidnapped her, Maxie regrets it and Spinelli is heart broken. Plot separate from Spixie Johnny and Lulu are on the run (however in this story they've been on the run for almost a week). This is a Spixie story with the only other characters being Jason, Sam, Robin, Lulu, just the characters necessary to fulfill Spixie. I have no idea how long this will be i'm just gonna test it out, see the response I get so please REVIEW! _

Chapter 1

Spinelli walked into Jason's penthouse or as he would prefer to call it "Casa de Stone Cold" with his head down trying not to look at the piece of furniture that he and Maximista had regretful sex on.

"Spinelli?" Jason walked from the kitchen catching the kid in a glare at the couch, "Do you want to work up stairs?"

"No," he groaned closing the door behind, "No Stone Cold it's alright."

"It's okay Spinelli we can go upstairs," he could see that every step forward was killing him, "I can order a new couch if that helps."

"You'd do that for the jackal?" Spinelli formed a smile in the corner of his mouth.

Jason nodded, "If it meant that every time you walked into my apartment you weren't going to look at it and well cry then yes…"

"I don't cry," Spinelli curled his lip in sadness before taking his knapsack off.

Jason immediately regretted the way he worded his emotions, "Spin…"

"No," Spinelli removed his laptop from his bag and walked over to the center of the couch, "It's just that the jackal felt a connection." He set his laptop on the coffee table and turned to Jason, "A connection with Maximista, I…" He pointed to himself, "I felt com…complete."

He disappointedly nodded as his eyes glanced down at the cushions and he slowly sat down grabbing the pillow he and the blonde one had rested against after they came together as one, "I…I thought…Well…" He paused realizing it was a wasted effort to believe that Maxie Jones would ever see him as more than a friend, "I guess the Jackal thought wrong."

Jason walked around the side of the couch softly smiling, "You know what you need?"

"Maximista?" That's what he really needed, he needed to have Maxie by his side telling him she didn't have any regrets.

"Better," Jason backed away smiling.

"But, but…" He lingered as Jason disappeared into the kitchen, "What could be better than the zenith, the summit, the pinnacle of Beauty and Sexual allure?" He looked down pouting at the green blanket.

_Are you okay?_

_Ok cannot even begin to describe the depths of my feelings at this moment. I have long cherished--  
_

_Spinelli, you're the most amazing guy that I know, and I would never want anything to change what we have. _

He sighed hugging on to the pillow, oh how he longed for the day Maxie Jones would open her eyes and see the Jackal as more than a friend.

"Here we go," Jason strolled back in grinning with an orange soda in his hand.

"Aw," Spinelli's face slightly appealed in gratitude as he took the bottle from Jason's hand and drank it, "Thank you Stone Cold."

"No problem," Jason smiled taking a seat on the sofa diagonally from the couch.

"Spinelli?" Jason questioned him who was quiet as ever, "Have you ever thought of telling her how you feel?"

Spinelli rolled his eyes, like every chance he saw her, "She doesn't believe that she is worthy of such an emotion Stone Cold, every time the Jackal tries to explain that he doesn't regret the…best night he ever had, the blonde one tells I that it's because I'm her friend, her confidant, love never even gets a chance to be mentioned…." He sadly pouted letting out a long deep sigh.

"Well," Jason frowned at him, "Would you like some advice?"

"Anything," he desperately looked up at him, "Anything to aid the Jackal in his quest to attain the beautiful Maximista."

Jason leaned over with his arms on his legs and his fingers entwined in each other, "Be her friend," he glanced up at the troubled man, "Spinelli as long as your heart aches for her, you continue to be her best friend, okay? Can you do that?"

Spinelli nodded, "I need Maximista even if she only saw the jackal as a mere friend I would never abandon my friendship to save my ever dying heart."

"Okay then," Jason slightly smiled, "If you can find a way to be her friend and accept that she might never love you the way you love her then…then that's good."

"For her," Spinelli pouted motioning his lips to the bottle.

"Spinelli," Jason reminded him to think back to his previous thinking, what they just mentioned.

"I know," Spinelli sighed again taking another sip from the bottle.

"Do you want my wishful thinking advice?" Jason couldn't bear to see the guy frown any longer it might be a long shot, but anything to make him smile.

Spinelli slowly nodded before taking another quick sip of the tangy juice that was actually making him feel better.

"Maybe after all of this is over, after Johnny and Lulu are found and Logan's murder is some how fixed," Jason softly smiled, "Maybe Maxie will look back at all the times you comforted her and maybe she'll realize that she cares for you," it wasn't the best explanation, but he knew it would be enough to give Spinelli something to hope for.

"You really think so?" Spinelli smiled, there was _hope_.

"I said wishful thinking remember? But sure…People come together in moments like these Spinelli," he tried to say warm heartedly, but Spinelli gave him a grin, "What."

Spinelli goofily grinned, "Well I just expected you to say that cause you and the maternal one…"

"Spinelli let's get to work," Jason got up from the chair not wanting to hear Spinelli rant to him about his night with Elizabeth Webber that resulted in Jake.

* * *

This chapter was just setting the ground work. It will sort of appear to be in Spinelli's point of view for a few chapters and then will switch to Maxie's.

Next chapter: Jason tells Spinelli the severity of the situation, Maxie's life is at stake.

Review! Thanks!

-Heather


	2. Hero

Chapter 2

"_Fifteen gunmen, a bomb, twenty hostages all whose lives depended on YOU."-Jason Morgan when convincing Spinelli that he's a HERO. _

* * *

"Dad I got your call, what is it?" Maxie nervously looked at him in the PCPD as everyone was running around trying to figure out where Johnny and Lulu might run to next.

He leaned in whispering, "Have you heard from them yet?" Mac hoped that maybe if she had that she would give up their location, help them with the investigation, but instead she nodded no.

"I haven't heard from them at all since they left almost a week ago," and even if she had heard from them she wouldn't tell her father or the police, she knew that would indeed be the quickest way to get her killed.

He nodded believing her, "Okay then well will you keep me posted?"

"MAC!" Lucky ran over to him with David Harper by his side, "Beaches Corners!" Lucky wished he had thought of it sooner, of course they'd go to the place his mother and father had ran away to almost thirty years ago.

"Why do you think they're there?" Mac looked at them.

David Harper explained, "There's a hotel there, they said a Joe and Linda have been checked in there for three days, they matched our descriptions sir."

Mac grinned, _finally_, "Great put an APB on them, you two know the drill."

"Maxie," Mac turned to her, "You're free to go, be safe okay, you're the only girl I've got left." He hugged her.

"I know dad," she leaned out letting him know their tender moment meant as much to her as it did to him for ever since Logan's murder and Maxie's constant visits to see Johnny, it seemed like all they ever did was fight.

"Bye dad," Maxie squeezed his arm before casually making her way out of the PCPD where once she knew no one was watching she whipped her phone out to call Spinelli.

-

"Blonde one…" Spinelli answered his phone looking away from the computer screen that revealed where Lulu and Johnny are.

"That's where they're at," Jason pointed at the computer screen before glancing at Spinelli to continue, "Alright come on!"

Maxie could hear Jason's voice in the back ground, "Good you already know then…"

"Yes we do Blonde one," Spinelli looked up at Jason, "Stone Cold she tells me that the Law Abiding Ones know where the Septic Son and the blond one are."

Jason cringed nodding his head in anger before leaning away from the screen to the closet.

Maxie heard Spinelli's quiet stutters, "Spinelli…"

"Um…" He pulled the phone away as he watched his master grab the metal box from the closet, "Stone Cold what are you going to…do?"

"Spinelli," Jason spoke harshly as he loaded the clip into the pistol, "Tell Maxie she needs to get here as soon as possible."

"But," he paused, "I thought you want me…"

The sound of the clip successfully being lodged into the gun made Spinelli jump, "I don't…"

Jason glanced away from the gun in his hand, "Tell her Spinelli, tell her to come here."

Spinelli slowly nodded, "Al-rig-ht." He moved the phone to his move, "Maximista…"

"Spinelli," she sighed in relief that he was still on the line, but she could already tell in the way he said her name that something was very wrong, "I'll be right there!"

He slowly nodded moving the phone away from his ear, "She's on her way…Stone Cold." He looked at Jason wondering what was truly going on, why Maximista needed to come here to Casa de Stone Cold remained a mystery to him.

"Come here," Jason demanded of him.

"Yes sure," he nervously walked over.

"Take this," Jason motioned it his way.

"Um," Spinelli spoke with hesitance, "Should I not remind you of what happened the last time I picked up a…my foot."

Jason nodded remembering very clearly what happened, "When Maxie gets here you will lock the door and go upstairs."

Spinelli looked at him very cautious, "May I ask why Stone Cold is…"

"Do not let her leave," he stared into Spinelli's eyes, "Under any circumstance Spinelli."

"But," he groaned for Maxie had a mind of her own and with the awkward tension he felt when he was around her, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to control her.

Jason stressed, "No buts, here," he glanced at the gun, "Now if someone comes in here, shoot to kill."

Spinelli's face grew white like a ghost, "I…I can't…" He backed away from Jason where he stumbled to fall on the couch.

"You have to," he motioned the gun towards him but Spinelli put his hands up like he wanted nothing to do with it.

Jason pouted putting the gun down on the desk before grabbing one of his spares in the drawer of the desk.

"Stone Cold this is…" Scaring him is what it's doing.

Jason checked the clip, "Spinelli…" He loaded the clip in before tucking behind his back into his jeans, "I need you focused." He grabbed the silver pistol that he set down moments ago and walked towards the scared kid who abruptly stood up from the couch rambling.

Jason raised his hand interrupting him, "Remember when we went into the Metro Court…"

"Ye--es," he nodded.

"It was scary wasn't it?"

"Most assuredly, yes," Spinelli fumbled around with his hands.

"Yes it was, there were masked men with machine guns and there was a bomb in the lobby," Jason reiterated how horrendous it was.

Spinelli nodded, "Yes the Demon formally known as Craig put a gun to the Jackal's temple threatening to kill Fair Lulu if he didn't open the grand vault."

"That's right," Jason slowly said before asking the same question from earlier, "You were scared weren't you?" Jason continued to work reverse psychology on him.

"Yes Stone Cold the Jackal already told you he was terrified," Spinelli looked at him not very appreciative of the memory being resurfaced.

"Well I couldn't tell, I couldn't tell that you were terrified," Jason spoke solemn, but knew he had to continue when he saw Spinelli's look of doubt, "Spinelli, let me reiterate the situation."

Jason glanced down at his hand getting ready to mark off each thing he was about to list, "Fifteen gunmen, a bomb, twenty hostages all whose lives depended on YOU."

"Spinelli," Jason raised his voice knowing Spinelli needed this confidence lecture, "You worked while a gun was shoved into Lulu's back while a gun was pointed to your head while each and everyone of those gunmen threatening to blow up the place." He softly smiled, "You opened that vault, you gave them the distraction for Sam to warn the police, Spinelli you saved US."

"It was you Stone Cold," Spinelli restated, "And Sam, you were the heroes."

"You were the HERO Spinelli and I need you, Maxie needs you, the police department, for Johnny and Lulu's sake, we need you to become that HERO again, can you do it?"

Spinelli had never exactly looked at his part in the rescuing of the hostages as any actions of a hero, he did what Jason was asking him to, not to become a hero, just because in the goodness of his heart were people that needed someone to save them.

"Spinelli," Jason asked again seeing that Spinelli was staring off into space probably thinking back to his noble efforts, "I need you focused."

Spinelli glanced back at him nodding, "I'm yours Stone Cold, I'm here to do whatever his master asks of him."

Jason nodded gently grabbing his shoulder, "Are you? Are you really here because right now I need to find out who else knows where Johnny and Lulu are and I can't have you freaking out." He looked at the laptop, "When I call asking for information you need to be quicker than ever because it's going to mean life and death."

Spinelli gulped for although the situation appeared to be less lethal than the Hostage Crisis from hell for some reason the stakes were higher this time, he didn't know why it felt like they were, but he felt like he had more to lose if he messed this up.

Jason glanced back up at him, the coldness showing through, "Things are about to get really dangerous, do you understand that Spinelli?"

He slowly nodded believing he genuinely did, "I do."

"Do you really?" Jason asked again desperately needing him to understand the full scale of the situation, "Because this is the time where you will wish you had never met me."

Spinelli was taken back there would never be a day he regretted meeting Stone Cold, "The Jackal would never regret meeting Stone Cold." He took the gun from Jason's hand trying to show him that he was ready to carry out his duties.

Jason stared at him, "Spinelli, shoot to kill because the minute Johnny and Lulu are in custody Anthony will do damage control and he'll start with Maxie that's why it's critical that she stay here until I get back."

Spinelli looked at him with worried yet tough eyes knowing he had a job to do, "I will do my best to protect Maximista."

Jason proudly smiled rubbing Spinelli's shoulder, "Very well then…" He backed away, "I'll call you." He turned to the desk grabbing his cell phone and wallet, "And Spinelli…" He glanced at the kid who was glaring at the gun, "Spinelli…"

"Um yes," he looked up from the gun.

Jason put his hand on the door knob, "Like I said…After all this, she might decide she loves you after all." He softly smiled knowing it would be an incentive to keep Spinelli from cracking under pressure, if Maxie could see a shred of the man Spinelli was during the hostage crisis then maybe, just maybe she'd be able to see she loved him.

Jason winked slowly closing the door when Spinelli spoke, "Um Stone Cold?"

"Yes?" Jason looked at him wondering if he had forgotten to mention something.

"Be careful," Spinelli warm heartedly said hoping this wouldn't be the last time he saw his mentor, his Mr. Miyagi, his wing man, but moreover his best friend.

"I will be," he slowly nodded, "But you be careful too, be a hero, but don't be stupid." He pointed to his head knowing they had gotten themselves in enough situations for Spinelli to know how to act when the enemy was in sight.

* * *

Next Chapter: Spinelli and Maxie talk, Claudia interupts, and Jason overhears Anthony's orders to put a hit on Maxie Jones.

Review!

-Heather


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Spinelli!" Maxie knocked rapidly on the door wondering why it was taking him so long to answer.

Spinelli ran down stairs with a complete different change of clothes on, a black dress jacket hanging over his arm which he threw on the couch and a white dress shirt and black pants, he was dressed for something, his death in case it were to occur, "Just a sec Blonde One!" He looked at the pistol set on the coffee table.

Maxie let out a loud annoying sigh, "Spinelli what's taking so…"

The door flung open and Maxie looked confused at the clothes he was wearing, "Spinelli what, why…" She looked puzzled as she walked in flustered.

He turned around to see her sit on the couch, "Maximista I'm sorry to have upset you." He frowned before turning his back to her to lock the door.

She saw the gun tucked in his pants and then heard the lock, "Spinelli what's going on?"

He turned to her rather nervous, he didn't want to scare her anymore then she already was, "Nothing."

"Nothing?" She huffed in disbelief, "You have a gun tucked in your pants which by the way match nicely with your shirt and with that said why are you dressed…"

"Maximista," he spoke seriously, "Stone Cold has instructed me to take you upstairs where we shall wait upon his return."

"Why?" She whined as if the idea made no sense to her.

"Because he said so," Spinelli raised his voice for her safety was serious to him, there was no room to joke anymore.

"Something's up isn't it?" She looked at him realizing she should have seen it before, the gun, the suit, the way he immediately locked the door, "It's not good that Johnny and Lulu have been found."

He saw the worried look on her face and he wished he had found a better way to sugar coat the fact that her life was at stake, "Stone Cold fears as do I that the Brutal Mob Boss will try to…" He paused realizing she was growing in terror, "Maximista," he kneeled in front of her seeing her once strong face that she walked in with just seconds ago alter to an expression that was fragile enough where she could burst into tears at any moment, "I promised you," he cupped her cheek seeing her eyes glance up at his, "That I would protect you," he gently pushed the blonde curls out of her eyes where he saw her eyes close for a brief moment like they had when they slept together, "I promised you and I will." He softly removed his hand from her cheek to her hands, "The Jackal has no intention of taking back his promise, you are safe."

"I know," she slowly said wanting to put herself back together for nowadays it seemed like the smallest thing could set her off that's when she was thankful she had Spinelli, she knew she was safe with him. It's why she showed up on his doorstep a little over a week ago, she needed someone to hold her, to comfort her and he had gone as far as to have sex with her to make her feel secure.

"I know that I'm safe with you," she gulped as she felt another awkward moment developing between them. They seemed to occur more frequently now, she didn't know why, but it was becoming harder and harder for her not to admit something that in the deep of her gut had been building up ever since she told him it was mistake.

He softly smiled before she pulled him into a hug, "I promise you, no one will bring harm to my blonde one."

She lightly chuckled before pulling away wiping her tears, "You're not mad at me for what Claudia told you…" She was referring to the conversation that took place just after Johnny and Lulu had gone on the run. Claudia had come a knockin' demanding for his help, but instead ended up blurting out that Maxie had planned to seduce her brother for ten grand and twenty if Lulu watched.

"I told you already," he held her hands in his squeezing them, "I'm not mad merely disappointed yes, but I—the Jackal could never hate you or end his friendship with you."

She slowly nodded once again in disbelief. She didn't deserve him, she didn't deserve his friendship or his protection or his kind felt words, it was still a mystery to why he put up with her, she had nothing to offer him.

"Spinelli," she found herself softly saying his name while cupping his cheek feeling as if inside she wanted to tell him something, a secret, something that had been building up in her for days, but was too afraid to let it out.

He glanced up at her wondering what she was going to say, his heart ached for her to utter the words "I love you". He desperately wished this to be one of his fantasies, but before anything could happen, before words could be spoke, before emotions could be felt, his phone rang.

She looked at him not to answer it, she had finally for the first time in days felt like she could reach out to him again without feeling awkward, yet it was awkward at the same time for he never showed an ounce of frustration or resentment or anger towards her feelings about that night.

"I have to…It could be Stone Cold." He broke contact with her watery eyes and answered it, "…I'm sorry Stone Cold, yes Maximista is here, yes," he nodded once more at Jason's annoyance that he took a mere five seconds too long to answer the phone.

She watched as he conversed with Jason and frantically typed at the same time, she had seen him in the "Jackal" mode before, but never quite like this, like every second was urgent.

"Yes Stone Cold it appears as though the Brutal Mob Boss is alone, Darth Lansing and the DA of Darkness leave the Metro Court where they appear…" He pulled up the footage of the PCPD, "At the offices of the Law Abiding ones um ten minute ago."

Jason nodded, "Alright, what about Claudia where is she?" Jason asked as he parked his car a few blocks from the Metro Court for he didn't want there to be any record of his car being parked at his friend's hotel.

"Um Vixenella is not in sight…" He paused trying to pull up footage from multiple cameras around town until his usual search engine of the Harview Towers came up from five minutes ago, the lady in red walked into the elevator.

He slowly glanced at the door, "Stone…Cold…"

Maxie could see a strike of fear flush his face, "Spinelli what is it?" She touched his arm where he quickly looked at her and then back at the screen, "She's here."

"What do you mean she's 'here' Spinelli?" Jason stopped at the traffic light at the curb he was walking along.

"I mean…" But before he could finish his sentence a knock came to the door.

"Spinelli?" Jason questioned his presence when he heard silence.

He whispered into his phone, "She's here…at the door."

Maxie looked at him wondering what had changed his view of Claudia Zacchara for just six days ago he had kindly turned down the offer to help her and now suddenly he was afraid of her?

Jason raised his voice, "How do you know she's at the door Spinelli?"

"Because," he whispered once more, "I just heard…"

"If you were upstairs you wouldn't have heard it," Jason became agitated he had only be gone about twenty minutes and he already wasn't following orders, "Didn't I tell you once she got there to go up stairs?"

"Yes Stone Cold, but Maximista just got here two minutes ago," he explained and Jason just sighed for he knew if continued to make a big deal out of this that Spinelli would begin to panic.

Claudia Zacchara stood outside knowing the nerd was in there, she could hear hushing, "Spinelli!" She shouted, "I know you're in there!"

Jason could faintly hear her shouting, "Okay, okay…" He nervously ran his hand over his face for although Claudia had tried to make some assurances between their organizations; he still couldn't trust her, "Answer the door."

"What?" Spinelli spoke into the phone it was just the opposite of his orders, "Stone Cold…"

Maxie tugged on Spinelli's arm trying to calm his nerves down, but it didn't seem to work as Spinelli began nodding at the orders Jason was giving him.

"Alright master," Spinelli looked at Maxie, "Here, I need to keep Stone Cold on the line."

She looked at him suspiciously as she took the phone wondering what he was about to do.

Claudia impatiently tapped her foot on the floor, "Come on Spinelli I promise I'll be nice!" She remembered she had been quite mean, unintentionally of course, but it wasn't quite nice to barge into someone's home demanding them for help which is exactly what she did the last time she was here.

"Coming Vixenella!" Spinelli slowly rose up from the couch with his hands motioning to the gun behind his back.

Maxie worriedly looked at him believing she was about to get herself in another murder pact, "Spinelli don't."

He glanced at her as he removed the gun from his pants and aimed it low to the ground, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course, but…"

"Then prove it," he demanded of her as he approached the door, "Coming…" He aimed the gun at the door.

"Spinelli I don't think…" She was going to say that she didn't think Claudia was here to kill them so he could stop with the theatrics.

He glanced at her as he stopped in front of the door, "You can't be too sure."

She looked at him having never seen this side of him before, a side of him that only Jason Morgan could bring out of him, "Jason, what did you tell him to do?" She whispered angrily into the phone.

Jason ignored her comments knowing that if Spinelli was following his orders then her words were completely justified.

"Vixenella?" Spinelli question her existence as he unlocked the door.

"Yah I'm still here!" Claudia crossed her arms, "Spinelli I'm alone, you have nothing to worry about."

Spinelli hid his hand behind his back and opened the door, "Vixenella!" He greeted her before swinging the door open, "Come in."

"Thanks," she smiled brightly not yet noticing Maxie, "Listen Spinelli…" She walked into the penthouse where she saw Maxie standing near the center of the couch.

She huffed in laughter as she set her hands on her hips, "Spin, what is she doing here?"

Maxie snarled in just as much disgust, "Being protected from you apparently." She glanced at Spinelli who just finished locking the door.

Claudia looked at Maxie confused, "Spinelli what is she…" She slowly turned around to see him pointing the gun in his hand at her.

"Spinelli," she looked at him offended, "You don't have to be afraid of me."

"Stone Cold says you can not be trusted," he walked towards her with the gun still pointed in her direction, "Maximista phone please."

Claudia huffed rolling her eyes as if this was ridiculous, "Spinelli I'm not gonna kill you or Maxie, neither is my father he's too preoccupied with Johnny and Lulu to even think about you two."

He took the phone from Maxie, "Maybe so Vixenella, but I'm under Stone Cold's orders here, Maximista, this way," he motioned her to get behind him.

"Oh for heaven's sake," Claudia plopped her purse down the coffee table.

Spinelli frowned at her, "I'm truly sorry." He put the phone up to his hear, "Stone Cold, I have done just as you said."

"Good, way to go," Jason stopped at another curb, he was only a block away now from the Metro Court, "Ask her what she wants."

"Vixenella, Stone Cold wants to know what you are doing here." He continued to steadily hold the gun at her.

"I want to know where my brother is, I want to know if you guys no anything." She had no idea that the police were on their way to apprehend them now.

"Stone Cold, she wants to know where the Septic Son and the Blonde one are," Spinelli easily explained.

Jason was puzzled, she should already know where they are, "Tell her nothing."

"But Stone Cold," he thought it wouldn't do any harm in telling her.

"No Spinelli, if she knows where they are she will tell her father if he doesn't already know."

"But," Spinelli glanced away from Claudia, "Stone Cold, don't you think it would be wise…"

"No there is nothing wise about this. Once Anthony discovers where they are at he will have Lulu killed and most likely in front of Johnny," and if that happened Jason knew Johnny would go on a killing rampage which meant he would not only be charged for accessory, but murder as well.

Spinelli pouted, "I really doubt the Brutal Mob boss would…"

"Spinelli!" He yelled at him, "I said no!" Jason pushed the cross walk button, "If something happens to Lulu, Johnny will go nuts and if he kills a cop then I'm going to jail!"

Spinelli stuttered, "You make an excellent point Stone Cold." He motioned the phone away from his mouth, "I'm sorry Vixenella, but I can't help you."

Claudia rolled her eyes, "Spinelli come on!"

"I'm sorry, Stone Cold says no."

Jason saw the Metro Court coming into view, "Spinelli I have to go. Tell Claudia to leave, perhaps go to the police station."

"I understand Stone Cold, good luck," he hung up.

"Good luck?" Claudia questioned with anger, "What is he up to?"

"I can't tell you Vixenella, I wish I could tell you where your brother and the blonde one are, but…"

She nodded her head feeling just as betrayed as she did the other day, "I took care of you Spinelli. Do you remember that?" She walked towards him not afraid of the gun, "And put down the stupid gun! Like you really know how to use it!" She sarcastically made fun of him.

He lowered the gun, "The Jackal is sorry, he really is, but…"

"But you can't do what you know in your heart is right? You know I thought you were different from Jason and Sonny…"

"Oh please!" Maxie exclaimed stepping next to Spinelli, "Don't you even compare him to Jason and Sonny! He gave you the benefit of the doubt when they wouldn't and now because he's doing what he thinks is best you're going to tell him he's no better than them?"

Claudia sincerely glanced at Spinelli, something Maxie had said made her realize that Spinelli didn't exactly deserve to be put in the middle, "Spinelli you know me."

Spinelli glanced at the coffee table, he didn't want to have to admit that he did know her that he thought she might be harmless.

"Spinelli," Claudia softly whined, "I took care of you Spinelli and I'm not just talking about when you and Jason got sick."

He glanced up at her curious as to what she was going to say for the night he was drunk he had said a lot of things to her, "And the Jackal appreciated your kind help, but."

"But I found you on the docks remember? Drunk and speaking that great Aussie accent, tell me Spinelli again, why did you put on that fake accent and get yourself all dressed up again?" She knew this was exactly the way to get him to cooperate, threaten to expose his feelings for Maxie, "Wasn't it to impress someone?"

"Spinelli," Maxie glanced away from Claudia tugging on his arm, "What is she talking about?" She looked him in the eyes remembering she had asked him the very same thing in the hospital, asking him why he was at the Haunted Star parading Giselle on his arm, but they were interrupted before he could ever answer her.

"Yeah Spinelli?" Claudia asked, "Can you not remember? I mean…" She glanced at Maxie, "He was pretty drunk, he was rambling all kind of things," she glanced at Spinelli, "You almost fell into the harbor."

Maxie looked at him wondering why he had never told her this, "You almost drowned?" If that was the case she felt horrible for she knew he was too drunk to leave the place unaccompanied and yet she left him to do whatever, _some friend_ she realized of herself, what kind of person deserts their best friend like she did?

"It's not…" He tried to say something to her eyes that showed him betrayal.

Claudia began to finish his sentence, "What he means to say is that he wasn't anywhere close to drowning…thanks to me," the evil Zacchara sass building up with in her now, "But no thanks to his best friend, the woman who claims to have his best interest yet was too busy to make sure he got home safely, am I right Maxie?"

Spinelli focused in on Claudia, "Maximista was busy with the Fashionista," he glanced at Maxie, "The Jackal understands."

Claudia rolled her eyes, "Spinelli!" She huffed in his ignorance, "She wasn't working with Kate Howard that night, I think she was there for about five minutes before my little brother showed up and then…well you can put two and two together can't you Spinelli?"

Spinelli slowly looked over to Maxie wondering if there was any ounce of truth to what she said.

"It's not what you think," she squeezed his arm; her tears getting choked up in her throat at what she thought was potentially another secret she could lose him over. Sure she and Johnny were only talking that night, but it was the fact that Claudia had twisted those events to that which Maxie thought it was more important to sabotage Johnny and Lulu then take care of Spinelli.

He looked at her taken back, there was some truth to what Vixenella was saying.

His hurt face of betrayal was exactly what she feared, _damn Claudia_, "Spinelli, you have to believe me he and I weren't together, we just talked," she explained like her life depended on it, she even cried in front of him to gain his sympathy, to show just how much the thought of losing him to a stupid secret to a stupid plan wasn't worth it.

Claudia enjoyed seeing there relationship fizzle, "See the truth is Spinelli is she's two faced. One minute she's the damsel in distress," she watched Spinelli glanced at her, "The woman who wants you to believe she has a heart and the next minute she's a liar…" She watched Maxie hiccup her tears while nodding her head in defense back at Spinelli silently pleading with him that she was no such thing, not anymore, "…A woman who sells herself for money."

Claudia reached down for her purse realizing her time here had been wasted, "You want to believe," she walked closer to him before pointing at Maxie, "That she's the sweet girl next door, but," she glanced back at Spinelli, "She's quite the opposite," she backed away from him towards the door where she said one last thing before turning away from him, "She's not worth changing yourself for."

Maxie quickly glanced up at him who was glaring at Claudia and tried to make sense of the words that took her by surprise, _she's not worth you changing yourself for._

Spinelli looked at Claudia in disgust, in disappointment, in sadness, just upset that she had said the things she did, "Stone Cold was right, you can't be trusted."

Claudia humorously laughed, "No," she waved her finger in Maxie's direction, "She's the one that can't be trusted."

Spinelli could feel Maxie clawing his shirt and he glanced down at her face full of tears, "It's okay." It drove him beyond the deep end to see that Claudia had upset Maxie this much, more so than before, no more Mr. Nice Guy that was for sure.

Claudia eyed the pathetic weak woman, "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

_Enough, enough was enough,_ he gently tried to break free from Maxie's grip, "Actually I do."

She watched as he stood up for her, walking towards Claudia with his head held high while she slowly sat on the couch taking one deep breath after another wanting to curl up into a ball, "I've known for quite some time."

"Then you're not as smart as I thought you were," she sarcastically frowned while Spinelli couldn't handle her presence anymore, "There at Beaches Corners, now get out."

She didn't expect him to cave in like he did, "You're sure?"

"Yes, the Law Abiding Ones know as well," he warned letting her know that it might be too late for her to help her brother and Lulu out.

"Thank you," she sincerely smiled, but he said nothing that showed like her gratitude meant anything to him for all he did was walk beside her and unlock the door.

She felt bad now, all of this could have been avoided had someone just told her up front, she wouldn't have had to black mail him or insult her. She turned to him as he opened the door saying the nastiest words he ever said to her, "You are no longer welcomed at Casa De Stone Cold, please don't come back asking for me expertise again."

She warm heartedly sighed like his words had struck a nerve in her _that hurt_, it truly did. She walked towards the door where she stopped in the doorway trying to look him in the eye, but he refused to give her what she wanted.

"Spinelli," she softly addressed him, "I give you my word, I'll make sure you two are protected from my father. I swear he won't come after you two, he's too busy thinking about Johnny and Lulu for Maxie to even cross his mind."

He slightly glanced at her with a nod, he didn't want to excuse her behavior and he wasn't by all means doing that, he was just acknowledging what she said.

"Well thanks again," she glanced at him before taking a quick glance at Maxie who just wanted her to leave so she could talk to Spinelli and make sense of her words.

Claudia walked through the front door pushing her hair in front of her face embarrassed now at how she had handled the entire situation for she knew Jason would never let her forget it.

He slammed the door shut, locked it and then turned to her wanting to ask her if she was okay, but at the same time was finding it hard to just be in the same room with her. It wasn't that he was upset about her seeing Johnny the night he was drunk on the docks, she was free to see any man she wanted, she was free to talk to whomever, he had no claim over her just like she had no claim over him, but it was the fact that she lied to him.

He pressed the arch of his nose before expanding his fingers outwards to his eyes, "Are you okay?" He looked at her letting his hand rest on his cheek.

She looked at him trying to wrap her mind or merely her heart around Claudia's words, "What did she mean by you changing yourself for me?" She careful danced around the words that she felt she might already know the answer to.

He couldn't admit his feelings to her now, this wasn't the time or the place, the mood was all wrong, he convinced himself it was better to throw the attention onto her, "What did she mean by you and the Septic Son, blonde one?"

She ignored his words as her mind was replaying the night's events at the Haunted Star, "Is that why you were dressed up with the accent, were you…" She looked up at him almost as if it all made sense, "were you trying to…"

"Maximista," he smiled as he set the pistol on the coffee table and joined her on the couch. He knew full well what he was doing; he was stopping her from have the realization that he always wanted her to have.

"No," she wanted to brush off his attempt to distract her, "Were you trying to get my attention?" She questioned again looking up into his eyes that wished she would just drop it.

"No." He gently took her hands in his trying to settle down her emotions, "The jackal…the jackal was trying to get the attention of…of Nurse Mir," he frowned inside, but his mouth was softly smiling.

"Oh," it wasn't the answer she was hoping for it, "I didn't know you…you liked her." She tried to put on a smile like she was happy for him, but for some reason that she didn't want to admit to, she was not happy.

"Ye-ah," he barely said, "The Jackal escorted Nurse Mir to a wedding where she and I danced and…"

_Since when did all this happen?_ She asked herself wondering where she had been and then it dawned on her, she had been trying to seduce Johnny, _but still_ she thought, how could she have missed Spinelli taking the nurse to a wedding and dancing and talking and _punching a guy?_

"Punched a guy?" She slightly laughed before glancing down at his hands to see if they were okay having forgotten that this event took place almost a month ago, "Spinelli you punched a guy?" She asked again in disbelief, "I can't believe that." She honestly couldn't, he wasn't capable of such a violent thing.

"The Jackal has moves you've never seen," he joked before he found himself getting lost in the ocean of sparkling blue eyes in front of him.

She slowly stopped laughing as she began to take notice the way he was looking at her, yet another awkward moment coming between them and by then he was aware of his behavior so he looked away to bring himself back to what they were talking about, "It was not the Jackal's intentions to hurt him, but he said the most unkind racial slur to Nurse Mir and I had to," he honestly told her like he would do it all over again.

"No I think, I think that's great of you," she sweetly smiled at him wishing he would defend her honor, not like now, but she wished she could have seen him punch Logan when he attacked her, perhaps everything would be different now and then she realized had that happened, she could have killed Logan, she could have been Lulu's place, but would Spinelli, would Spinelli be in Johnny's place?

He wanted to take the subject off of Leyla, not only because it was hard lying to her and making up feelings for a girl he merely saw as a friend, but he really didn't want to give Maxie the impression that he was _taken_, "But what happened with Nurse Mir and I isn't important, right now," he raised his hand to her chin, "You are."

She softly smiled feeling tears built up in her eyes, "Spinelli." She looked away feeling especially after everything Claudia said, she felt undeserving of his attention once again.

"Blonde one, don't let the words of Vixenella upset you," he placed his hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.

"But she was right," Maxie slightly raised her voice unable to respond to believe the goodness that Spinelli saw in her, "She was, I should have never let you leave the Haunted Star alone, I was a horrible friend to you, I'm sorry."

"All is forgiven," _why did I just say that_, he asked himself for a part of him was still bothered by the lie the secret. Maybe it was because he was in love with her, the thought of her being near any guy but him driving him crazy.

"No it's not," she placed her hand on his cheek seeing the look in his eyes, "You're mad at me."

He slowly nodded no, "The Jackal is not mad, just…" He couldn't find a way to explain what he was feeling, he couldn't find a word that wasn't mad, "It doesn't matter what I think." He looked her in the eyes believing he had genuinely delivered the line and then looked away from her feeling her hand gently fall from his cheek.

"Yes it does," she put her hand back on his cheek bringing his attention to her, "I care what you think about me."

"If you did then you wouldn't behave like that," he blurted out having no idea his thoughts just formed into words out of his mouth.

"I…I didn't mean it like that," he was crushed as she looked at him wondering how he could have just said that.

"No you're right," she leaned away from him getting up from the couch with her back turned to him.

"Maximista, no," he got up from the couch feeling deeply misunderstood.

"No Spinelli," she sighed, "You're right, you are," she turned to him, "I mean what kind of friendship do we have if we can't be honest with each other."

She nervously looked at him with slight fear that he would tell her the truth of her greatest flaws while he was afraid if he told her such that she would hate him.

She stared at him thinking before ultimately realizing what she had to do, she walked towards him hoping she wouldn't regret what she was about to ask of him, "I know that you are too kind and care too much about me to ever tell me the truth." She stopped just in front of him, "It's why you haven't told me you regret us being together it's why you've been so accepting of what I planned to do with Johnny and Lulu," she grabbed onto his white dress shirt bringing him closer to her, "And I love that you don't ever want to hurt me but, but I need to know."

"Maximista," he spoke like he was going to avoid what she asked of him. He removed her hands from his shirt, "I-The Jackal thinks we should follow Stone Cold's orders." He backed away from her to his laptop.

"Spinelli!" She yelled in frustration which prevented him from picking up his laptop, "I don't care what Stone Cold-Jason says," she walked towards him closing the laptop before looking up at him, "I care about us which right now is bigger than this stupid mob war then Johnny and Lulu then everything else!"

"The Jackal will not discuss this with you, he has a mission his mission is to protect you at all costs, now we will go upstairs whether you want to or not, frankly I hope you willingly come up with me because I don't want to hurt you Maximista," he looked at her very serious not wanting to play truth or dare anymore, he just wanted to get control of her and do what Stone Cold believed in him to do.

She turned her back to him shouting in frustration, "I know you want to know Spinelli!" She turned around to him, "You want to know what she meant about Johnny and I don't you?"

_Yes_, but he couldn't distract himself with this right now, "Maximista what you do on your own time is…is your business however if you like the Septic Son that's…that's great, but I don't think Fair Lulu is going to give him up…"

She chuckled with her arms crossed at his words, always so sweet and genuine but with no emotional feeling attached to them, "Can you for once just be honest with me?"

He looked at her like all he was doing was being honest, "The Jackal…"

"You Spinelli, I mean you, not the sweet Jackal that would never say anything bad about me, but you, the guy who told me the sewer that he had never been in the position to give his heart, body and soul to someone, I want to talk to that guy right now!"

"And he's right here!" Spinelli yelled back as he felt insulted by the way she divided the Jackal into two different people, "Whether I call myself the Jackal or just I or Me, I've always been here!"

He pouted fuming with anger like it had been building up for days, "And it deeply offends me when you act like I'm two different people because I'm not, I am the Jackal I am Damian, I am one person who will not have this discussion with you right now." He saw her pout like a five year old, "I am not gonna pick you to pieces like I'm reviewing a film or a painting, I simply have too many things on my mind to discuss us, which there isn't an "us" there is Spinelli and Maxie that's it."

She nodded in disagreement, she huffed in aw, she let tears built up in her eyes at the way he just spoke to her, this wasn't the honesty she was looking for yet this is what she got, "Well if you aren't going to talk to me then I'm leaving." She grabbed her purse off the couch where she turned to walk passed him only he wouldn't let her, "You can't leave, Stone Cold said…"

"You know what Spinelli?" She snapped at him charging forward while he walked backwards, "I don't care what Jason said!" She stopped walking, "He runs your life, but he does not run mine!" She let her shoulder hit his as she walked passed him where he suddenly grabbed her arm, "Maximista it is not safe for you to be on your own."

She turned to him like she didn't need him or his protection, "If my dad thought I was in any real danger he would have kept me at the station, Claudia says we're safe and despite everything she said I actually believed she was sincere, so let go of me."

"You know if wise Georgie were here…"

"If Wise Georgie was here you and I would have never become friends or whatever it is we are!" She spat back implying that she almost wished she had Georgie instead of him.

He sadly nodded at the way she put it, "Well I was going to say that she would ask you to stay, to think about all the people that care about you," he watched her look away feeling as if she was being lectured, "Including myself Maxie."

She glanced up at him, he had never called her by her real name, but seeing the look on his face she realized not only was he sincere like he always had been, but she had hurt him.

He let go of her and walked to the door unlocking it, "The decision is yours, but let me say one thing to you."

He walked towards her where he stopped in front of her putting his hands in his pockets, "As horrible as Wise Georgie's death was, the one thing that made it seem not as tragic was you."

She looked at him, the same inner truth lying within her, Georgie had died, but she didn't die without leaving her with a gift which turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her.

"…I lost your sister, but I got you. My best friend who I care for more than anyone else, who I would do anything for, who I would die for," he paused as his words left him feeling eerie.

Seconds later he continued, "And I can't decide what would have been better," he shrugged his shoulders, "Having her alive or having you," he started to smile, "But I feel most blessed I feel most privileged I feel lucky that I got to have her as well as you in my life and I will never look back on the day that you came into Kelly's asking me to help you find Wise Georgie's killer, never."

She hated it when he said things like this to her because it made it absolutely impossible for her to be angry with him in fact it made it impossible for her to ignore these feelings that she kept pushing aside. That's why she ultimately decided to walk towards the front door, so she could go somewhere and think about what all this meant, the words he spoke, Claudia's hints, her own feelings, Georgie, she needed to go somewhere and be alone to think about what she wanted out of life, if Spinelli was someone she wanted to share it with.

She looked at him to open the door and just as he started to open it he closed it shut, "Stay Maxie." He raised his voice, but she responded with, "I'll call you later okay?"

He relaxed his shoulder in annoyance of her stubbornness, "I have a bad feeling Maxie, I have a really bad feeling about this, please don't go."

"I'll call you when I get home okay?" She looked at him seeing his worried face, but felt unable to stay in his presence with everything that just happened. She would be okay, she knew she would. All this hype about Anthony trying to kill her was just talk. Claudia said she was safe. If her father felt her life was at stake he would have had officers guarding her, there was no real danger.

He nodded not wanting to ignore his gut feeling, but he did as she wished knowing that Jason would be severely disappointed in him, so much for being a hero, all he was now, was a coward.

She saw him regretfully opened the door and then as she stood in the doorway she leaned over to kiss his cheek, "I'll call you."

He watched her to walk to the elevator knowing in his heart that this wasn't right, something was wrong about all this, about today, waking up today he felt different, Jason's words, the reason he put on the suit, carrying the gun, the eeriness when speaking of the possibly of death, it made him ill letting her slip through his hands, letting her step into that elevator without him.

-

Meanwhile Jason had successfully gone unnoticed in the Metro Court at least he thought he had.

"Anthony," his number one henchman walked in closing the door behind him, "Jason Morgan has just entered the building."

Anthony glanced at his watch, "On time I see."

Creeping along the rooms on the 8th floor of the hotel which he knew were mostly empty because frankly none of the guests wanted to be on the same floor as the crazy man he stopped just outside the room where the door was slightly creaked open, for a reason of course.

Anthony cleared his throat, "So my idiot son has been caught by police with that damn Looloo girl…"

"Sir," the man looked down at his laptop, "Looks like the other girl involved has just left Harview Towers."

Jason's ears perked up, _damn it Spinelli._

"Is she alone?" Anthony spoke with much interest, he had to of course, part of this was a show for Mr. Morgan.

"Appears so," the man enclosed in on the security cameras he hacked into.

"Where is this girl's favorite place to be alone at?"

"Pier 51, she's been spotted their many times in the past two weeks and she looks upset now," he zoomed in further on the blonde who was getting into her car.

"Alright, tell David to set up there, send two other henchmen in case something goes wrong."

Jason leaned away from the door, he knew that Anthony probably knew he was right outside or nearby listening, that was the point. While he was at least twenty five minutes away from Pier 51, Spinelli was only ten minutes away if not closer, this was Anthony's plan all along he realized. He played right into the enemies hands and now someone was going to pay, either a sweet, well not sweet, but an innocent girl or his computer friend.

-

His hand gently tapping against the doorframe the uneasiness of her presence that was now gone made him feel all the more worried. Hearing his phone ring he ran over to answer it hoping it was Maxie or Jason saying he was on his way home, "Stone Cold!"

"Didn't I tell you not to let her leave the apartment!" He shouted as he ran into the elevator.

_Oh no_, he knew it, "I tried to get her to stay Stone Cold, but…"

"It doesn't matter now, you need to get to Pier 51 as fast as you can, they've spotted her and they believe she's heading that way, they're going to kill her Spinelli unless you get to her."

"Me?" Spinelli nervously spoke; this was just what he was afraid of.

"Spinelli I'm gonna try to get there as soon as possible! But we're wasting time! Go!" Jason hung up.

Spinelli immediately called Maxie's number, but of course she wasn't answering, "Maximista!" He yelled in frustration before sliding his phone into his pocket and turning to the gun on the coffee table. Picking it up, he grabbed the jacket to his suit and then grabbed the key's to the mob mobile and ran out the door muttering, "It's time the Jackal show Maximista moves she's never seen."

* * *

Next Chapter:

_Someone told me that love would all save us.  
But how can that be?  
Look what love gave us.  
A world full of killing, and blood-spilling, that  
world never came._

_Lyrics from the song "Hero" by Chad Kroeger, expect to see this theme in the next chapter._

_Will Spinelli get to Maxie in time? If so will they get caught in a shootout? Who will get shot? They'll be one ILY confession. _

Don't forget to Review! Thanks!


	4. Love would save her

A/N: Okay you must if you can listen to the song "Hero" by Chad Kroeger! This chapter was modeled after that song, so look it up on you tube or whatever, it makes the chapter all the more...well I won't spoil it. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

He never drove so recklessly in his entire life. Weaving in and out of mid-day traffic he frantically tried to call her, but when he continued to get her voice mail he became more worried that he too late.

"Pick up!" He frustratingly shouted as he drove onto the docks seeing the boatmen look at him like he was crazy with the way he came to startling stop when he saw her red Volkswagen beetle, "Please…" He prayed that he wasn't too late, she had only left his apartment ten minutes ago he couldn't have been more than five minutes behind her.

He didn't even bother to close the car door, he ignored the angry boatmen and ran out past the small buildings where he knew was a small sweet area where one could enjoy a sunset while looking out at the harbor, "Maximista!"

She sat motioned to sit down when she heard her name only spoken by one person, "Spinelli?" She looked up trying to place the sounds of his voice with a face.

_Thank god_, he told himself, "Come on!" He motioned to her as he ran down the stairs.

"Spinelli I need to be alone," she tried to be nice about it, but he didn't run away from her.

He put his sweaty nervous palms on her shoulders frantically looking around the place, "Well, you can be alone at Stone Cold's." He grabbed her arm pulling it.

"No," she stood there about to throw a tantrum, "Spinelli, I…" She didn't know how to explain that she needed to be away from him.

"There's no time, come on," he tugged harder and she pushed him away, "Spinelli I'm staying here."

_God damn it_, he told himself, _couldn't she see that something was wrong_, "Listen to me!" He yelled at her irrationally, "He's going to kill you!"

She looked at him taken back, but before she could question his words his eyes reacted as if he just heard something.

He quickly looked around, hearing the sound over and over again, it was the sound of a rifle a sniper rifle loading. Maybe it was the video games, maybe it was all the adventures with Stone Cold, but he knew the sound, "It's too…" He looked at the stairs, he looked at the boats in the harbor he looked at the buildings behind him, she was asking him things, but he ignored her, the sound was coming from somewhere, but where, where was this haunting, this eerie…And then he heard her shout, "Spinelli!"

He looked down at her, "We have to get out of here Maxie!" He put his hand on her back glancing up at building nearby them and suddenly he saw him, in the window cracked open, he saw the red dot shimmy from the weapon of death onto her milky skin, "No…"

She heard his faint cry and looked up at him only to follow his gaze, he was right, she was a target, he was right.

He glanced up at her, "Maxie get down!" He quickly grabbed hold of her putting himself in what would be the line of fire.

_And they say that a hero can save us._

"Spinelli!" She freaked out as he threw them to the ground where suddenly she heard the loud echoing of gunshots. His eyes squinted as the bullet pierced the flesh of his back near his shoulder, _oh it hurt_.

Hitting the dock floor he rested his forehead on his fist in front of him where he instantly spit out blood,_ ahhhhh_, if only that was the end of his pain, but it was just the beginning.

"Are…" He slowly breathed, "Are you okay?" He glanced at her hoping it was worth it.

Her eyes fluttered open trying to understand what was going on around her, "Yeah," she glanced at him before looking back noticing this time the blood dribbling down his chin, "Spin."

He coughed to the side of her resting his forehead on his fist again trying to breathe while Maxie found the damp spot on his jacket.

He lifted his head up from his fist where he saw her eyes fixated on something, "Oh…oh Spinelli," her voice was reacting to the blood on her fingers, he was hurt, he was bleeding, he was in pain because of her.

Her hand came into his vision and he quickly grabbed it for he needed the sniper to believe they were dead and her shaking wasn't going to convince him of that, "Shh…" He said as calmly as he could looking down at her hand where he slowly put each finger into his mouth, sucking the blood.

He removed the last finger from his mouth and looked at her hand that was falling weak in his, "All…better," he smiled trying to tell things were going to be okay.

She looked at his tense face, his eyes that were squinting with every breath he took like a stinging feeling, "I should have listened," she wanted to apologize a hundred times, she wanted to go back to the penthouse, she wanted to stay, she wanted this moment to never occur.

"It doesn't…hurt that bad," he tried to confidently tell her, but the truth was that it hurt more then he thought it could, it was nothing compared to being shot in the foot.

She could see he was lying, his emotions said it all, "I'm…" She hiccupped, "So sorry," she slowly.

He kissed her hand once more taking a deep breath, "Promise me…" He let her hand rest on her chest where she instinctively touched his chest, his heart. He looked at her remembering the last time she touched him there.

_Spinelli I need you_

He smiled, no matter what she thought about their time together, the minute she said those words, the second he worked up the courage to place his hand on her cheek and kiss her ever soft lips, he never regretted a single moment between them, a moment of perfection, a moment one man waits his entire life for.

He leaned over her shoulder moving his lips to her ear, whispering, "Promise me," he closed his eyes their whole relationship flashing before him, "You'll love again."

_And they say that a hero can save us._

He kissed her neck taking one more sniff of her perfume before he brushed his face against her cheek to feel as close to her as he did that afternoon they were together and then without hesitance he turned away from her pulling his gun out knowing full well this was the end of Damian Spinelli, his entire existence, his family name, all would die right here.

The sniper ducked down firing a few worthless shots hoping to stop him from shooting so accurately at the window. Finally one of these worthless shots swiftly cruised by him, "Ah…" Spinelli turned to his shoulder where he saw her face, "I'm okay…" He softly smiled as he felt her hands hug his waist _trying to keep his balance_ she told herself, but the truth was that she wanted to be there for him, she wanted to be there for all the times she wasn't.

He glanced away from her to the window where he envisioned himself in the level of a video game, he was James Bond and this was a goon, he took aim and bang, the sniper was dead, but he didn't die without firing one last shot.

_Someone told me that love would all save us._

Stone Cold had told him this forty-five minutes ago, his love for Maxie Jones would save her, but Stone Cold had also said his love for her would convince the blonde of her own feelings, where were those such feelings now?

_But how can that be?_

He saved her the minute she walked into Kelly's asking him to find Wise Georgie's killer, he saved her mind that day, he saved her soul when they together and now he had saved her body.

_Look what love gave us._

Love for Georgie brought them together, made them friends, the best, love gave them something they've been looking their entire lives for, each other._  
_

_A world full of killing, and blood-spilling,_

Gasping for air as he felt a jolt threw him back into her arms, his hand with the deadly weapon slowly fell to the ground while his other hand touched his once white shirt, his eyes mortified at the thin liquid leaking out of him.

_That world never came. _

No it never would, love would never happen for him, he would never get to hear her utter those words to him, he'd never get to say marriage vows, he'd never get to have beautiful Blonde Ones or brainiac Jackals with her, the life he dreamed would become just another unfulfilled destiny.

"Spinelli!" Her face turned white, he had been doing okay before, she almost believed he could live, but the look in his eyes now, his mouth moving, but nothing coming out sent her into panic mode, it sent her over the deep end, "Oh…oh…oh." She put her hand on his rising chest of blood.

She raised her bright red hand and found herself screaming, "Somebody help!" She shouted but no one could hear her, "Okay…Okay…" She looked around trying to think of something to stop the bleeding, put pressure on the wound, "okay," she pulled him against her.

"I'm…I'm scared," he panted.

She turned to him with her arm around him, "Listen to me, you are NOT going to die." She clenched her jaw seeing the petrified look in his face and then saw as he tried to speak blood seeping out of his mouth.

"You're okay," she looked in his eyes, "You're going to be okay, you have to BELIEVE." She touched his cheek where her eyes wandered to his black jacket, "Okay, I know how we can stop the bleeding," she filed her fingers motioning to remove his jacket but his eyes darted at her.

"Please, let me help you," she trembled knowing this was the only way.

She touched his jacket where he looked at her again not to, "Do you trust me?" She asked and his eyes grew wide, nodding, of course he trusted her.

She kissed his forehead for being so brave as she let his head rest on his chest while she carefully removed the jacket from his arm that had a bullet lodged in his shoulder, "I've almost got..." She walked him through it hearing him huffing in pain. She pulled the jacket off hearing him yell, "I've got it! I've got it!" She told him again letting him no it was over.

She quickly placed the jacket over his chest feeling the small puddle of blood, so much blood, it was more blood then she hoped to ever see ever again.

"Okay," she pressed hard on his chest, "We need to just press this really hard, okay?" She glanced down at him and he nodded, he wished he could say something to calm her fears down, she was an emotional wreck, her eyeliner had run, her hair was mess and her beautiful clothes where covered in his blood, "Th..tha…"

"Don't talk, save your strength," she cupped his cheek, gently rubbing it before pressing her hand harder on his chest.

"Thank, you," he breathed in and out each time letting a little blood drizzle downwards.

He was bleeding so much it was obvious to her in the little bit of medical training she had that the bullet had hit an artery, "It's going to be okay," she tried to assure him with her voice cracking and her tears spilling out of her eyes, who was she kidding? It wasn't going to be okay, he was going to die in her arms, he was going to leave her just like everyone else in her life had.

He began to breathe heavily, "…Max…"

"Don't talk," she looked at him insisting he just sit there and let them try to stop the building, "I'm going to call for help, I'm going to get you some help." She never once looked away from him, the key was eye contact, keep him focused and he won't fade away on you. Her hand searched the docks for her purse and finally she felt it and quickly grabbed it.

"But," he needed to tell her something, it was important to him that she knew she was worthy of his love, that she was not a horrible person who didn't deserve such an emotion to be thrown her way, she was loved and wanted her to _know_ it.

He glanced up at her hand that was quickly dialing numbers, "no…" He touched her arm, "I…There's something…" And then he saw the one thing keeping him from completing his mission.

_And they say that a hero can save us._

It was going to take all the strength left in him, but he didn't care, his mission was to protect Maxie Jones at all costs even the cost of his own life. He pushed her down and fired two bullets into the henchman's chest where before he could even celebrate; a pre-smile before he faded away, he felt a gun jammed into the back of his head, "Game over."

He closed his eyes; he was so close, so close it was unbelievable to him that he couldn't catch a break, "I tried."

Spinelli looked at her completely disappointed in himself, he had failed, he had lived up to every insult of Mr. Corinthos Sir, of the unhinged one, of everyone that thought of him to be worthless, he was no hero, all he had done was post pone their deaths by fifteen minutes.

"Any last words?" The henchman shoved the gun harder into his skull.

Yes, he had last words for her, if they were going to die, he wanted her to know, so he smiled with everything he had left, which wasn't much and compiled the energy to speak three words, "I love you."

The henchman as ruthless as his boss laughed, "Aw that's sweet," he then tilted his head to the blonde, "What about you miss, anything you'd like to say to your dying boyfriend before I kill you two?"

She looked at Spinelli who was waiting for her to say something, he believed this was the end for them, but she didn't. She refused to BJ's heart go to waste, she refused to let Georgie's selfless act go undone, she refused to let all the pain Spinelli had been through be for nothing. This was not goodbye; this was not the end of her life nor was it the end of his.

She smiled sweetly at the man Spinelli was blocking, "Can I at least see the face of the man who's about to kill me?"

"Believe me lady, I don't want to kill a fine woman such as yourself, but if it's your dying wish then sure," he eased the gun from Spinelli's head.

Spinelli waited for her sign, for the henchman to come into vision only he had no idea what he was planning to do. If he got a shot, he would try to live as long as he could because the fact of the matter was he was dying, no one had to tell him Maxie didn't need to cover it up, he could feel it in the breaths he took, he could see it on his clothes, he could hear it in his voice. This would probably be the last thing he'd ever do, he my as well make it count.

The henchman came into vision, he was young, handsome on the outside, but his heart was like his boss; cold and undetectable. She smiled and that was the sign Spinelli was looking for.

Spinelli rolled off of her holding his chest while screaming agony where before man had time to react she kicked him in the groin and Spinelli fired the remaining bullets in his gun.

Spinelli froze as the man fell to the ground, it was over, he hoped no one else would come for her that she could get away that Stone Cold could get her to safety or the Law Abiding Ones anyone, but him for he felt himself fading away now, tick tock, tick tock, it was only a matter of time.

Maxie stared at the still man, the henchman who wasn't moving, "Spinelli," a smile came over her face, "Spinelli?" She glanced at him who slowly closed his eyes, exhausted.

She quickly grabbed his jacket and caught him in her arms before carefully lowering him to the dock. Pressing the jacket on his chest, she leaned over his face, "We did it." She tenderly touched his cheek softly speaking, "We fought the bad guys…We did it without Jason!" She believed they could do anything now, someone would come for help, someone was bound to hear the gunshots, Jason probably called for help just in case, someone was coming; Spinelli was going to live.

His lip quivered while smiling, "We're…a good…team."

"I told you, I told you we work well togeth…er," she paused for his eyes began to wander away from hers, "Spinelli stay with me," she began stroking his hair while her hand grabbed onto his, her face just inches from him, "You saved me, you did good…"

He slightly laughed, "I did well."

"Whatever," she chuckled with tears racing down her face, she corrected herself, "You did well."

He smiled before he felt himself beginning to shake, _this is it_, the taste in his mouth growing strong, "Maximista?" He raised his bloody hand from his chest.

As much as he wanted to touch her, she looked so beautiful in his eyes that he didn't want his blood messing with such perfection.

She grabbed his hand kissing it before resting it against her cheek; she knew he wanted to touch her, but was afraid to do so, "Tell me what it is?"

She heard him choking, his lungs must be filling up with blood now, "I know." She told him what she felt like he was going to say again, but she couldn't form the same words in her mouth, if she did then she felt like all this might be real, like she might actually lose him after the unthinkable just happened, they beat the villains, why can't the good guy come out as a hero for once?

Blood trickled down his chin making him struggled to get the words out, "I…"

She leaned in placing his hand on his bloody chest before stroking his hair again, "Don't…Don't say it." She urged him not to say that he loved her because then he might die, doesn't that always happen? A man professes his love and then dies in the arms of the woman he loves.

"But I do," he whined in an empty hollow voice that spoke the truth, he wanted her to believe.

"I…" He felt tears building up in his eyes now, feeling a final breath come over him, "I wish…we had more time." He took the hand that had gently been rubbing his cheek and he kissed it, "Goodbye, my love."

Her hand fell out of his, his eyes wandered away from hers and then he let out a long gasp coughing blood the ran down his cheek, his eyes closed and now it was up to her.

_It isn't the love of a hero, that's why I fear it won't do._

* * *

That was intense! Really sad too!

Next Chapter: Will help come? It will, but his life is still in her hands.

Don't forget to review!


	5. Fix you

A/N: Hey some lyrics here are from Coldplay's song "Fix You". Enjoy!

Chapter 5

_**And the tears come streaming down your face**_

"Spinelli," she leaned over him letting go of his hand that just fell to his side, lifeless, "No, you are not gonna do this to me," she clenched her jaw touching his cheeks, "Spinelli!" She called his name waiting for him to respond, _Maximista._

_**When you lose something you can't replace**_

She stroked back his hair, "Come back…Come back to me please." She looked at his face, his closed eyes, his smile that was no more, his cheeks that were no longer red.

_**Tears stream down your face**_

It became obvious to Maxie that this wasn't a movie, she wasn't going to utter words that were going to magically bring him back to life, things weren't that black and white.

_**But if you never try you'll never know**_

Breathing irrationally thinking of what do it crossed her mind.

_**And I…**_

She moved the jacket and ripped open his white-red shirt and began doing what she learned in the class she took with Georgie two years ago.

"_Tell me why we're here again?" Maxie glared at her like she could be at the mall._

_Georgie glared back, she and Maxie barely spent any time together, she wasn't asking for much, "To learn how to save someone's life Maxie." _

"_Oh please, like someone is really going to be passed out or dead on the floor," she rolled her eyes, this is just a ridiculous waste of her time. _

"_You never know," Georgie honestly looked at her before rolling some statistic off her tongue._

"_Well I still think it's a waste of my time." Maxie pouted crossing her arms._

"_Well can you do it for me then? Can you do it just to spend time with your jolly good old sister?" Georgie looked at her offended that Maxie was complaining so much, someday she'd thank her for it, someday she'd run in telling her how great it felt to save someone's life._

Every time she pushed her interlacing hands on his chest, blood oozed out from the gun shot, _god he was so brave, _she told herself, _so brave, never thought twice he just jumped into those bullets,_ she found herself whimpering at his side, "No Maxie." She told herself she couldn't do this, she couldn't get emotional, _13, 14, 15. _

She looked at his mouth, the blood still fresh on his lips, he was just with her a moment ago and now, _two breaths,_ she told her self, she had to keep focus, she had six minutes from what the instructor told her, six minutes to bring anybody back from the dead.

_**And I will try to fix you**_

She breathed into him knowing it wouldn't work instantly, but she hoped in repeating the steps over and over again that eventually the blood would begin circulating in his heart, she hoped that everything in her life had prepared her for this moment.

She finish the fourth cycle, _check pulse_, she put her fingers by his neck, his neck that was still warm, but felt nothing. Grabbing his hand she checked under his wrist, nothing.

_**Tears stream down your face**_

She frustratingly looked up at the grey sky, "Georgie what was the point!" She cursed her sister, "The boutique had a great sale on skirts and I missed it because of you because you wanted me to learn this!" She took a deep breath as anger rose with in, "And low and behold here is a guy who…" She glanced down at Spinelli, "Who needs help and…" She glanced up at the sky, "And this stupid method isn't working!"

She pouted at the sky wondering if Georgie was looking down at her, surely if Spinelli was dead he hadn't crossed into the gates of heaven yet, so she believed it was just her and Georgie, "I don't know what to do…" Her voice cracking a hollow whine in each syllable while tears were slipping into her throat causing her to choke on her own sorry, "Spinelli…" She looked away from the cloudy sky to his body where she slowly leaned over his face and began stroking his cheeks, "Please don't leave me."

_**When you love someone, but it goes to waste**_

She felt her voice die in the overwhelming tears stuck in her throat, why was this happening to her? What had she done besides not listen to Spinelli to deserve to lose another person in her life? She had changed her life around, she had a good job, she hadn't picked on Lulu as much, she never went through with plan to hurt Johnny and Lulu, she knew Georgie would be proud of her, so why was she losing _him_?

She slowly grabbed his hand and squeezed it hoping that he'd squeeze back, but of course he didn't.

_I lost your sister, but I got __**you**__, my best friend who I care for more than anyone else, who I would do anything for, who I would __**die**__ for._

She cringed, struggling to keep her eyes open as more tears built up in her still mortified eyes of the blood he bled, _**die**__ for,_ "Spinelli," she kissed his hand before resting the inside of his palm on her cheek, remembering the way he cupped her cheek, remembering that afternoon.

_Spinelli I need you_

And without much hesitance he touched her cheek, smiling like he'd been waiting forever to touch her like that.

_**And the tears come streaming down your face**_

"There's so much," she clenched her jaw before letting out a moan of emotions, "So much I never told you."

Footsteps came onto the docks and David Harper looked over to see the blood bath, "Bring the paramedics over here!" He ran down the steps, "Maxie are you okay?"

She didn't respond, she lived in that moment, in that moment she took off his shirt and he fumbled with the buttons on her thin sweater. In that moment where he gazed upon her like she was the object of his affection and she just stared at him, lost, waiting for him to point her in the back direction and he had, he had led her to his heart, his heart that she realized would remain with her forever.

"Maxie," David glanced up at the paramedics before looking back down to her, "They need to get in…" He tried to pull her away but she wouldn't budge.

_**When you're too in love to let it go**_

"He's not breathing," the paramedic next to her quickly assessed, "Get the defribulator," he looked at his partner before glancing at Maxie, "Ma'am we're going to do everything we can." He moved his hands to hers.

"No," she whined as the man tried to remove their hands and David tried to pull her away.

"Come on Maxie," David Harper didn't think she needed to see another person come to their respective death.

She glanced back at Spinelli, "I'll," her lip trembled, "…never let go." Tears beaded down her eyes as she felt David pull her away, Spinelli's hand fell out of hers, "I'll never let go."

She watched as they assessed the situation with complete shock as to state this man was his grazed shoulder, his back shoulder wound, his pierced artery.

"Clear!" The man placed the paddles on Spinelli's chest, his body jolted, but there was no response, the paramedics looked at each other, their eyes in bewilderment, "Clear!" The same thing occurred, but they glanced up at each other with kinder smile, "Once more should do the trick." They hushed to each other.

"Maxie, he's gone," David frowned at his gesture that was being made out by her to be insensitive.

"Clear!" The man leaned away, he had never seen such a damaged body that was still hanging on, he wasn't that dead, they had arrived just in time.

"Yup!" The paramedic smiled as a strong enough heartbeat came on the monitor, strong enough for transport that is.

"I'll get the stretcher," the man put the paddles down and walked over to the blonde, smiling, "Ma'am he's got a pulse, why don't you talk with the officer while we get him ready for transport, I take it you're coming with him?"

She nodded, she wasn't about to leave him now, not ever.

"Good," he warmly smiled before leaving the area.

Maxie couldn't help, but smile, everything was going to be okay now.

David put his arm around her, "Come on." He slowly turned her away from the busy paramedic who was patching up the cut on Spinelli's shoulder.

"Ma'am?" The paramedic kneed down at Spinelli's side looked up from the bandage he placed on Spinelli's arm, "Did you do CPR on this young man?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

David looked at her surprised, "You know how to do CPR?"

She softly smiled, "Yeah Georgie convinced me to take this class with her."

"Well," the paramedic smiled, "Be sure to thank her for convincing you to take that class, you saved this man."

"I did?" She placed her hand over her heart; there was no way that she had done this, no way at all. She had not just saved his life with her knowledge from the course that Georgie forced her to take.

"Yes ma'am," he grinned seeing his crew come up from behind with the stretcher, "You kept him hanging on until help arrived, you should be very proud of yourself," he looked away from her to his buddies who walked passed the officer and the girl.

Maxie felt David's arms around trying to convince her to leave the scene and let the paramedics do their jobs, "Come on the sooner you tell us everything, the sooner you can go."

She walked away taking one last glance at the area before looking up at the sky, the sky that was now blue, the sun shinning, _thank you Georgie._

They walked out to the Pier where the police officers were taking people's statements and preparing the place for a crime scene, David Harper walked passed two officers, "I need you to check that building for a sniper."

She was going to explain further when she saw Jason who stopped running when he saw Maxie covered in blood, he couldn't smile on the outside, it would be taken out of context, but on the inside, no matter what she was about to tell him, he knew, he knew in his heart that his…his friend had been a hero.

"Jason!" She ran to him having no idea why she was happy to see him. She wasn't friends with him, she thought he could be rather rude sometimes, but he had never looked so welcoming to her as he did right now, "He's alive."

"Is that," he pointed to her outfit and she nodded, "Jason, he saved me, there was a sniper and two of Anthony's men showed up, we killed them."

"Hold up," David looked at her, "Did you kill anyone?" Not like it really mattered, it was a blood bath, self defense.

"No, no," she nodded, "He did, I helped him."

"So Spinelli shot all three guys?" David just wanted to make sure he had the basic facts straight, Maxie could always fill in the details later.

"Yes, he shot the guy in the window, the man on the steps and then the other guy, Jason you would have been so proud of him," she smiled and then realized what she just said.

David Harper raised his eyebrow at Jason, the detective in him wanting to know what she meant, but the friend in him wanting to act like nothing was said, "Will you be okay? You'll have to finish your statement later, but we know the basic facts now."

"She'll be fine Harper, I'll watch out for her," Jason nodded to David that it would be okay to leave her with him.

"Alright," he turned away from them to Lucky who was arriving in another car, "Lucky!" He shouted before catching him up on everything that happened.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked for it was awfully easy to ignore yourself when you're covered in someone else's blood or when your adrenaline is skyrocketing.

"Yeah," she nodded, but Jason could see her face was pale, really pale, "I'm…" She looked down at the bright red blood on her, "I'm fin…"

"Oh," he caught her in his arms, "Maxie?"

"I'm-fi-ne," she mumbled, "Just…" She began to lose conscious.

"Maxie!" Jason called her name, but her eyes slowly closed, "HARPER!" He shouted before lifting her up all together.

"What happened?" David questioned she was fine a minute ago.

"I think she's just in shock, she looked at the blood and passed out," Jason explained and both David and Lucky realized that made sense, she was pretty much drenched in Spinelli's blood.

Lucky looked at paramedics who were bringing Spinelli, "Hey, she needs to be checked out."

"Bring her over," the paramedic who told Maxie she had saved Spinelli's life motioned Jason to carry her over to ambulance, it would be another five minutes before they could get Spinelli into the vehicle.

"What happened?" The man asked as Jason walked into the ambulance and set her down on chair that folded out.

"I think she's in shock," Jason looked at him and he nodded for it was obvious why she would be.

"Okay," the man grabbed a cotton ball and put some liquid on it which would make her wake up.

"Ah…" Maxie opened her eyes, "What happened?"

"You passed out ma'am," he smiled at her, "But everything is okay, we're going to take your friend to the hospital, are you hurt?" He realized as a Paramedic he and the others had a mistake in not getting her checked out.

"No," she nodded trying to look at Jason, but paramedic grabbed a stethoscope and placed it on her chest, "Take a deep breath."

"I told you I'm fine, I didn't get hurt, this is Spinelli's blood okay," she raised her voice before placing her hand on her forehead trying to shake off the nauseated light headed feelings.

"Maxie," Jason looked at her sincerely, "He's just doing his job."

"I know," she looked up at the paramedic, "I'm sorry." She looked at him to continue doing what he wanted to do.

"You were right Jason," she took a deep breath, "Spinelli was right," she breathed out, "I should have listened." She looked at the paramedic who nodded like he was just about finished.

Jason smiled at Maxie touching her shoulder, "Don't worry about it." He insisted for worrying about things in the past was not good for anyone's health, "I'll take care of everything."

She slowly nodded, "Thank you and I mean thank you for catching me when I fell, I don't know what came over me," she knew of course that it was the blood on her shirt, but she just couldn't believe she passed out then of all times.

"You just went through something very traumatic, watching someone you care about get hurt and let alone almost die, it changes you, it opens your eyes to things," Jason hinted wondering if Maxie had begun to realize her own feelings for Spinelli.

"He's right," the paramedic brought the focus back onto the situation, "You've gone through something very traumatic, I suggest as soon as we get to General Hospital that you might want to check yourself in for observation, your heart rate is a little…"

"My heart is fine," she looked at him not needing a lecture now, she had to focus on Spinelli.

"Maxie," Jason kindly raised his voice, "It won't do Spinelli any good to wake up finding out that although he saved you from the minions of darkness," he paused realizing Spinelli's vocabulary just cut into his.

She grinned wanting to laugh where as the paramedic was just confused, Jason stumbled back into his own words, "Anyway, he would be very upset if he woke up to find out you got yourself sick or died over your heart."

She nodded knowing he was right, "Thanks Jason, um will you tell Lucky to call my dad?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys at the hospital," he waved goodbye to her before exiting the ambulance to see Spinelli only it wasn't Spinelli, it wasn't his friend or his brother it was a man who looked like he was on his last leg, "Um…" He looked up at the paramedic, "Is he going to be okay?"

The man nodded in doubt, "I don't know, he's lost a lot of blood and I mean a lot, I don't know how he was able to kill three guys with two bullets in him, one by his heart may I add, I don't know where the strength came from but whatever motivated him…" He nodded in disbelief unable to finish his sentence.

"Thank you for your help," Jason smiled before looking down at Spinelli's unconscious friend, "You're a hero Spinelli, a hero."

"I'll say," the paramedic laughed, "He's a super hero!"

Jason nodded, "Yes he is." He gently touched the kid's arm, "Get well my friend." He walked away from the stretcher to Lucky, "I'm sure you've already done this, but Maxie wanted you to call Mac."

Lucky nodded, "I will, um Jason?" He asked his nemesis that was walking away from him, "Is he going to be okay?"

Jason shrugged his shoulders, "They don't know."

"Well I'm, I'm sorry that this happened to someone who's a friend of yours," Lucky frowned with a friendly smile, "I'll tell Lulu what happened."

"Have she and Johnny been found yet?" Jason curiously wanted to know.

"Yeah, Mac took me off the case, but I was told they're in custody, they're on their way to the station right now."

David walked over to Lucky and Jason knowing they'd want to know this, "She was right, they work for Anthony Zacchara."

"How do you know?" Jason asked, but he knew from what he heard that of course it was his men.

"The guys just ran a background check on all three men, they're under Zacchara's pay roll," David explained, "Looks like Anthony Zacchara will be joining his son in lock up."

Jason nodded where he heard the ambulance doors close and the siren ring up, "Well I'm gonna follow them to the hospital," he tried to get out of the conversation.

"Of course," Lucky nodded him to carry on before he whipped out his phone and called Mac.

-

"Scorpio?" Mac picked up the phone in the station as he saw Johnny and Lulu being brought in.

"Commissioner this is Spencer we're at Pier 51 where shots were fired, I first want to tell you that Maxie is okay." He knew if he didn't say that first then Mac would go ballistic.

"What? What is my daughter doing in the middle of a shootout!" He glared up at Johnny and Lulu who looked stunned.

"Calm down commissioner, she's okay, she's on her way to the hospital with Spinelli, he's in critical condition sir, apparently sir, he saved her life." Lucky explained where Mac further asked if Morgan was involved, "No he showed up just before the ambulance left, he's just as shocked as we are."

"Yeah I'm sure he is, do you know who's behind it?" Mac eyed at Johnny.

Lucky sighed; the news wasn't going to come lightly, "Um we have evidence pointing to Anthony Zacchara's men, sir."

"Just as I thought, I'll call you back," Mac slammed the phone down where he turned to the two.

"Is Maxie okay?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, but I can't say so much for your friend Damian Spinelli," he glanced at Lulu whose mouth dropped.

"Spinelli was gunned down on Pier 51 trying to protect my daughter, now, who would she need protection from? Huh?" Mac glanced at Johnny pretending a light bulb went off in his head, "I know!"

He leaned in, "You!"

"I didn't try to kill them, I would never do that!" Johnny tried to defend himself when Claudia walked in yelling, "John why are you talking?" She knew he should wait for the lawyers to arrive.

Mac laughed where he looked behind her wondering if her father was going to stroll in, "He's trying to defend himself for the attempt of murder on my daughter!"

"What?" She had just talked to Maxie no longer than forty minutes ago if not an hour ago.

"Oh you haven't heard? You Zaccharas don't share your murder plans with one another?" He taunted her.

"Watch your mouth," Claudia pointed at him walking closer to him.

"Oh I'll say whatever I want to say since men who work for your father tried to kill my daughter, but thank god Spinelli was there!" Mac nodded in disgust of the people in front of him, "Spinelli saved her life while probably ending his own!"

"What happened to Spinelli?" Claudia sincerely asked, how could he be near death?

"He was shot to death while still managing to kill every man your father hired to kill my daughter!" He was done having this conversation, "Rodriguez…"

"Yeah?" He got up from his desk.

"Send two squad cars to General Hospital, I want them watching my daughter and Damian Spinelli if he makes it out of surgery, I want them watched at all times for the next twelve hours, we'll send in a rotation as needed."

"Alright," Rodriguez reached for the phone putting in the order.

"Take them to interrogation rooms 1 and 2," he saw Johnny about to complain, "What? You annoyed that you and girl friend can't conspire together?"

Lulu raised her voice, "We had nothing to do with Maxie and…" She couldn't even say his name.

"His name is Spin-elli," Mac insulted her, "Your so called best friend and what to do you mean you had nothing to do with what happened to them? You had everything to do with it! Take them away!" He turned away from them where once Johnny was in the interrogation room he reached for his pockets, "Claudia Zacchara you are under arrest."

"What?" She backed away from them, "I had nothing to do with what happened."

"Mac!" Ric walked in with Trevor, "You can't arrest her." Ric told him.

"Really? Cause my daughter's life was…"

"Was not threatened by Claudia!" Ric interrupted, "And there is no connection to them and the Zaccharas and if you try to arrest her or Anthony we'll work on writing this whole department up."

"Mac," Rodriguez spoke, "They're on their way to GH right now, you want me to drive you there?"

"I think that would be the best for everyone," Ric suggested.

"Yeah of course you'd say that," Mac put the hand cuffs in his pocket, "Come on…" He motioned to Rodriguez to get him out of the room before he did something he'd regret.

As soon as they left, Claudia turned to Ric, "What the hell is going on?"

-

Robin and Patrick were lovingly kissing each other at the nurse's station in the ER when Elizabeth looked over her shoulder, "Epiphany is coming."

Epiphany rushed over to the ER doors pulling plastic gloves over her hands, "Okay people," she turned to everyone at the nurse's station, "We have a multiple gun shot victim coming in, the dispatcher tells me they are in route."

Robin leaned away from Patrick, "Do we know who it is?" She glanced at Elizabeth, both thinking it was Jason.

"Yes, but for right now we need to book this young man an OR, page Dr. Julian and Dr. Archer and any extra hands…"

"Patrick and I will scrub in." Robin quickly offered.

Epiphany nodded, "Patrick can, you can't."

"Why not?" Robin looked at her, "Is it because I'm…" She was going to say pregnant, but Epiphany ignored her, "Nurse Mir and Nurse Crowe you too will not be scrubbing in, Elizabeth you are welcomed."

"Um…" Nadine looked at her where she suddenly became distracted by Nicholas and Sam walking off the elevator.

"Excuse me," Robin walked over to Epiphany, "Who are you to say if I or Nurse Crowe or Mir can scrub in?"

Nicholas and Sam stopped talking as they heard Robin's voice become louder, "You can't keep us out of the OR."

Epiphany realized the only way she was going to get respect as ridiculous as it was that she had doctors and nurses questioning her she realized she had to give up the patient's name, "The patient is Damian Spinelli…"

"What?" Sam questioned walking towards the nurse's station, Nicholas tagged from behind, "Spinelli's been shot?"

"Yes," Epiphany nodded, "He is being accompanied in the ambulance with Maxie Jones, that's why I ask you Dr. Scorpio not to scrub in because I think Maxie is going to need someone one and the same goes for you Nurse Crowe and Nurse Mir, you are friends of the victim."

"Wait," Sam questioned, "Do you know what happened?"

Epiphany could see the ambulance coming, "All they told me was that he saved her life." She walked through the sliding doors where the driver and the passenger quickly opened the doors.

Maxie looked up at the doors that were opening and sat up from the chair, "Help is here," she kissed his hand.

The paramedic's carefully loaded Spinelli out of the ambulance where they looked at Epiphany, "He needs surgery right away."

"I see," Epiphany was still adjusting her eyes to red shirt and the almost soaked bandage.

Maxie got out of the ambulance with the help of one of the paramedic's and then quickly walked over to Spinelli ignoring Epiphany's presence.

"You hold on okay?" She stroked his hair before taking his hand and looking up at the paramedics and Epiphany, "Well what are you waiting for!" She snapped at them and they ignored her temper pushing the stretcher right through the sliding doors where Maxie was not at all expecting to see so many faces staring at her.

Dr. Julian quickly stepped off the elevator grabbing a pair of gloves from Elizabeth, "Okay what do we have people…" He saw Maxie, a former patient of his.

The paramedic quickly gave him the scoop, "Bullet stroke a major artery, we patched up his shoulder, but he also has a bullet lodged into the back of his shoulder, he's going to need a blood transfusion and…"

"I've heard enough, get him into the trauma room, do we have an OR ready or not?" He turned to Elizabeth, but saw in the corner of his eye Maxie trying to leave with them, "Maxie…" He softly spoke her name stepping in front of her seeing she was covered in the man's blood.

"I'm not leaving him," she shouted.

Leo nodded at Epiphany to lead the paramedic's to the trauma room and prep him for surgery.

"No," Maxie tried to walk with them but he gently grabbed her where she snapped, "Leo you have no idea what I have been through, okay? No idea!" She was almost addressing everyone in the room not to mess with her.

"You're right I don't know what you've been through, but we're going to take really good care of him," he sincerely looked at her before glancing up to see Elizabeth, Epiphany and Patrick were steadily working with Spinelli, "Maxie," he glanced back down at her, "I know you're worried about your friend, but I can't have you getting in the way of the hospital staff."

"Maxie?" Robin walked towards her where she saw her cousin glance away from Leo, "Hey…"

"Oh my god Robin," Maxie put her hand over her mouth, "It was…" There were no words to express what happened.

"It's going to be okay," Robin stopped in front of her, "I'm here for you."

"And so am I," Sam walked towards her, "It's going to be okay."

Dr. Julian looked at Robin, "How about you get her into some scrubs and you can observe."

Robin touched Maxie's shoulder, "Would that be okay?"

Maxie slowly nodded, "Yeah."

"Doctor!" Elizabeth shouted pulling the curtain back, "He's gone into V-fib!"

"Doctor!" Epiphany shouted, "We're losing him!"

"Let's get him into surgery then, page Bayhar!" Dr. Julian ran to them where Maxie wanted to follow.

Jason ran into the ER his eyes locking instantly on Elizabeth who was working fast with Dr. Julian and Dr. Drake.

"Damn it!" Patrick grabbed more gauze, "Leo he is not gonna last much longer, we have got to open him up now."

"Fine, Epiphany call OR 1 tell them we need four pouches of whatever blood this man has, let's go!" He looked at Elizabeth and Patrick to help push him to the elevator, "Someone get the elevator!" Leo shouted and Nicholas who as nearby quickly pressed the button.

Epiphany picked up the phone, "Ya get me four pouches of O Neg, they're on their way now, tell Bayhar to be ready!" She slammed the phone and took another elevator up to the OR.

Jason snapped out of the scene that unfolded and walked to Maxie, Robin and Sam, "Hey."

"Jason," Maxie smiled to see him there, but Robin just looked at her knowing they could talk to Jason later, "Hun let me get you a change of scrubs."

Jason nodded for her to go, "Go on we'll talk later."

Robin put her arm around Maxie and turned to Leyla and Nadine, "Girls do you have some scrubs Maxie can borrow? All my stuff is maternity and…"

"Of course!" Nadine and Leyla quickly stepped off the Nurses station willing to help her for they could see Maxie was about to break any minute now.

Nicholas walked passed the girls to Jason where all Jason could say was, "Nicholas do not let Lulu leave the PCPD without guards."

"So this was the work of Anthony Zacchara then?" Nicholas didn't need to ask, he knew it was.

"Yes and if at first you don't succeed."

"You try and try again," Nicholas finished the catch phrase that was all too eerie as he turned around see Maxie enter the elevator with Sam, Robin, Leyla and Nadine.

Nadine pushed the button to the floor of the locker room where she saw Sam and Robin intimately holding Maxie as if she'd fall to the ground without them.

"Maxie?" Leyla looked at the woman she knew Spinelli loved, "Mr. Spinelli is going to be okay."

"She's right," Nadine looked at her, "You should have seen him when we fought Anthony Zacchara off at Wyndemere, he swung that fire place poker…" She paused as they all imagined Spinelli swinging a fireplace poker at Anthony, "I was sure Spinelli had Anthony rattling in his boots."

"And," Sam added on looking at Maxie, "You should have seen him in the Metro Court, you know he told after it was all over that actually knocked one of the gunmen with his laptop and then was still able to work like light speed to get that vault to open…"

Robin patted her hair, "He's stared death in the face many times before Maxie. He's going to make it through, you just have to believe."

-

Claudia Zacchara knocked on the door of her father's hotel room, "Daddy…" She stood there with a large stylish red hat on, a red dress, red heals and most important red leather gloves with shopping bags in her hands.

He opened the door, "What do you," He paused at how she looked, "…Great, so your brother is in lock up and you went shopping?"

She let herself in, "Daddy Johnny is going to get out, I came by to see how you are?" She placed her bags near balcony doors.

He glared at her, "Well how do you think I'm doing? Johnny and Looloo have been caught; I have my name being mentioned for trying to kill the commissioner's daughter! I'm just having a grand day!"

"Did I forget it was your birthday daddy?" She teased him.

"Very funny, what do you want?" He looked away from her back at the TV.

"Daddy," she sat on the couch pretending to get lost in the news that was being reported by an obnoxious lady, "And I'm being told that we have security footage of how it all went down…"

Anthony focused on the security footage wanting to see how his plan had gone wrong. As the lady explained Spinelli's heroic acts he laughed, "The media is having a hay day with this Spinelli kid…"

She was silent; it broke her heart watching the video footage, seeing him fall to the ground, seeing Maxie panic. She had played a bigger role in this then she initially thought she had. She had purposely caused problems between him and Maxie all so he would tell her where John was and in the end it was too late for her to help him so she had hurt two people for nothing and it ended up costing them everything.

"They made this stupid kid out to be a hero, this is a joke," he glanced at her who had to pretend that she wasn't that affected by the story, "Daddy…" She got up from the couch to turn off the TV, "I think you need a breath of fresh air."

"No what I need is my son out of lock up!" He yelled at her.

"Daddy I'm working on it, okay? Don't worry so much, come on it's a bright sunny day out," she walked around him pushing him to the screen doors.

"You're happy, too happy," he could see she was up to something.

"Why does everything I do have to question my loyalty to this family?" She slid the screen door open.

"You know why Claudia," he looked at the landscape in front of me.

"Because of what I did with Trevor?" She walked around him and pushed him onto the balcony.

"Well yes, but you are just like your mother," he grinned and snarled at her at the same time.

"Hey," she took offense, "I love my mother," she put her hands on her hips before motioning him to stand up.

"I can't stand, what are you nuts?"

She leaned in whispering, "Daddy, I know you can walk."

He looked at her wondering how she knew such information, "I can't walk yet, but I can stand."

"Exactly," she smiled, "I believe in you daddy, I just wished you could believe in me."

"Claudia," he frowned as looked at her to help him up.

"Honey," he looked at her as she set his hands on the railing.

"Its okay daddy," she pretended as usual to understand his rejections.

He looked over his shoulder to see her smiling, "See daddy I told you, it's much nicer out here then in that stuff room."

"Yeah, yeah," he looked away from her.

"When was the last time you had a cigar daddy?" She knew he'd definitely crave one.

"Not for a while, why," he raised his eye brow teasing her, "You got one for me?"

She nodded, "When I was out shopping I felt bad about how my mistakes got Johnny in trouble and I thought of how a disappointment I am to you and well."

"I'm not disappointed in you Claudia," he looked at her sincerely, "I just wish you'd consider that your life is not in the business."

"Do you want the cigar or not?" She looked at him annoyed; she had to be annoyed to make it believable.

"Yes," he looked away from her at the landscapes.

She walked inside to the shopping bags set right next to the sofa that was just outside of the balcony doors. She peered inside grabbing what she needed and then walked back out to her father saying her name, "Claudia."

When she didn't respond he sighed, _bitch_, "Claudia it had to be done." He knew that what she was doing was in reference to the shooting that involved Maxie and Spinelli.

"No it didn't, you think I'm the worst thing to ever happen to Johnny? You're wrong, you are." Bang. A bullet launched from her revolver went through the pillow into the back of his skull.

His hands lost grip of the balcony motioning to his chair but before his soon to be lifeless body could even hit the chair, she pushed his body over the balcony.

She happily smiled as she saw his body flying in mid air, "Finally." She smiled as his body hit the payment, "Should have done that a long time ago." She walked back inside putting the pillow and the revolver back inside the shopping bag where she soon left the place like she had never been there.

* * *

I totally wish Claudia would kill Anthony! I love that she got the last laugh! Yay Anthony is dead!

Next Chapter: What becomes of the broken hearted, Maxie will reflect her feelings to an unconcious comatose Spinelli, will her words give him a reason to live or will they kill him?

Review!!


	6. Nowhere to No here

A/N: This chapter has lyrics from the song Nowhere to Now Here by the kin. It was featured on the opening episode Army Wives season 2. You can download it for free at the Army Wives website on lifetime network or go to The Kin official website and get it there. It's an amazing song. Listen to it for this chapter. So this chapter was a mix of two things, I was initally going to start it where Maxie was already talking to an unconcious Spinelli in his room, but I decided to add some scenes of Maxie talking with Jason, Robin, Sam etc, to show Maxie's point of you. Now this is important Towards the end of the chapter is where the lyrics are posted, the lyrics are Spinellli's thoughts, the bold italics and even the italics are his thoughts. It should be obvious. Anyway enjoy. I should have an update soon and I hope you'll be able to pick up a hint here about the story's future, it should be on your mind. lol. Okay, enough yada yada yada, time to read! Oh and the Spixie believe Promo is definitely incorporated in this chapter. Don't forget to review!

Chapter 6

"_It feels like this love keeps me alive" –No where to nowhere by the Kin_

* * *

Dr. Bayard looked up at Leo, Patrick and Elizabeth, "Do you see what I see?"

Patrick nodded, "Is he one helluva lucky guy?" Patrick had basic knowledge of the heart but he wasn't all too familiar with open heart surgery.

Dr. Bayard nodded no, "Look closer."

Leo leaned over, "It's a good thing you're a combat surgeon sir."

"Doctors," Elizabeth mentioned for them to keep focus.

"Ms. Webber, don't you see where the bullet is?" Dr. Bayard looked at her wondering why couldn't they take the time out for a little heart lesson.

"Yes, I can see perfectly well where the bullet is, the pulmonary artery," she said like this wasn't the time to teach her how important the artery was, she knew just what that artery did, it carried deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.

"Right, when I remove this bullet, I'm going to need all of you," he looked at Epiphany and Elizabeth especially, "Blood is going to leak out of him so quickly that unless we get control of the bleeding I won't be able repair the artery."

Dr. Bayard looked at them, "On three."

_1, 2, 3,_ Dr. Bayard quickly dropped the bullet into the pan, "Suction." He began repairing the artery, "Come on guys suction!" He raised his voice as he could barely see the artery, but being the pro he was, he could do it with his eyes closed.

That was the last straw, doing it with his eyes closed, "More suction." He urged them where before they knew it he had repaired the artery, "Good job everyone."

They sighed in relief, they hadn't killed him, no, if anyone was going to kill him it would be Maxie Jones.

-

Sitting in the waiting room with Mac's arm around her, she rested her head on his chest completely silent the entire time until Rodriguez ran onto the floor.

"Commissioner!" He walked to the group sitting in the waiting room seeing that he had unintentionally disturbed the quiet group.

"Sorry, but sir you weren't answering your page or your phone." He stopped right in front of him.

"What is it Cruz?" He looked away from Maxie's blank face of emotion.

"Sir you won't believe this, but, Anthony Zacchara is dead."

Everyone seemed to glance up at him now and then they wandered their eyes to Jason who just looked at them explaining, "I've been here the entire time."

Cruz nodded like it didn't matter, "Mac it was suicide at least that's what we're ruling it as."

Mac's eyes brows rose, "Come again Cruz?"

"Sir he fell off the balcony of his hotel room and was found ironically in the garden of the Metro Court, on a rose bush," he kind of smiled like it was somewhat humorous.

Jason smiled as well, the man went on about roses so much that it was funny he was found dead in a garden full of them, "Are you sure it's him?"

Mac was just about to ask the same thing and Rodriguez nodded, "Trevor and Ric Lansing are just as stunned as we are, Claudia identified the body and we're running tests right now just to confirm."

"Well this is a surprise," Mac smiled, "Any security footage available," Mac asked not caring who heard the details, Anthony Zacchara was dead and this nightmare was ending.

"Yes, Spencer and Harper have looked at it and we have decided sir that the video footage is well, too grainy, we can't make out anything," he lied, the footage was very serious, raw and very clear, "I think after you've taken a look at it you too will decide that it is best to clear this case as suicidal."

Mac nodded understanding very much what Cruz was saying, "Make sure everything is air tight."

Cruz nodded, "Anyway I just wanted to let you know, Johnny Zacchara has been informed by the way."

"Alright Rodriguez I can catch up on everything later," he looked down Maxie, the pink scrubs she had on, it made him smile, pink was her favorite color.

"Dad," she looked up at him, "You can go," she knew they were very busy, the shooting, Anthony's death, Johnny and Lulu, a lot was going on.

"I don't have to go," he wanted her to know that he could stay.

"It's okay, I've got Robin and Sam here so," she motioned him to leave.

"Well okay," he sighed like he didn't exactly want to leave.

She leaned away from him where just as he got up from the seat her turned to her, "Call me if you need anything."

She nodded where as soon as he left with Cruz into the elevators she rested her hands on his face wondering why it was taking so long, "Robin why is it taking so long."

Robin scooted next to her, "He needed to have open heart surgery that takes a long time." She looked down at her watch, the surgery had last a little over two hours.

She nodded taking a deep sigh, "Don't you have patients you're supposed to check up on?"

"Kelly said she'd look after mine, it's okay, I'm completely here for you." She hugged her where Maxie let out a few tears, "If he…it'll be my fault."

"Maxie," Jason calmly called her name where she looked at him with tears in her eyes, "This is not you're fault."

"Yes it is," she wiped her eyes, "You told Spinelli to keep me in the penthouse and I would have stayed, but Claudia came over and started trouble and before I knew it Spinelli and I were arguyingish and well…"

Sam gently touched Maxie's knee, "Hun don't blame yourself."

"But he said he had this feeling as soon as I began to leave he said he had a bad feeling that I shouldn't go and did I listen? No. Then when he showed up at the docks he was trying to get me to leave and I just wouldn't go and then…" She put her hands over her face closing her eyes, "He must have heard him because he started freaking out, looking all over the place and then he saw the man and…"

Robin soothingly rubbed her back, "You don't have to explain."

"It happened so fast," she looked up at everyone who just quietly listened.

"He threw me to the ground where I could hear that something was wrong he coughed and then I saw the blood on his chin and then I looked at my fingers that had rubbed against his back and I began to panic," she whimpered before turning to Robin, "and you know what he did?"

"What?" Robin softly asked.

"Robin he didn't freak out he was calm relatively calm, he took my fingers and sucked the blood and then said 'All better'." She smiled before tears streamed out of her eyes.

They all softly smiled especially Sam and Jason, they had known him longer then anyone else had and that sounded like the Spinelli they knew, the kind sweet gentle kid.

"He uttered some words to me and then he just grabbed his gun," she glanced at Jason, "And just fired away like you," she saw Jason become uncomfortable like it was some insult to his personality when he was working, "I meant he fired the gun without being afraid, he was so brave Jason, he really was."

Jason smiled, "He's a brave kid to be hanging out with me all the time." He chuckled and Sam and Robin laughed.

"Remember," Sam started, "Remember when we were running away from Alcazar's guys, remember when the car blew up?"

"Yeah all he could say was "Neat" and I grabbed him by the collar to run with us to the alley…"

"Where you almost killed him for getting barbeque chips and orange soda," Sam laughed as Jason responded with, "He gave up our cover?" He thought his actions were perfectly reasonable, "I specifically said don't leave the safe house and what did he do, he left the safe house."

Sam laughed in a daze while remember so many other infamous moments of theirs, "And all he kept saying was goddess this and goddess that." Her laugh turned into a sweet sigh, how happy she was to have met that man who came off as very annoying at first, but turned out to be a harmless innocent guy.

Jason nodded, "Don't forget Stone Cold…Stone Cold…Stone Cold your…blah blah blah, I never thought he'd quit rambling, grass hopper this Mr. Miyagi that…"

"Oh come on, you love those names," Sam teased back.

Jason grunted where Robin and Maxie looked at him, "Admit it Jason." Robin looked at him, "Come on."

He tried to keep a straight face, "I don't know what your talk-…"

"Stone Cold…" Sam began to tease.

"Don't," Jason looked at her not to start teasing him, but suddenly Robin jumped in, "Stone Cold."

Jason jerked his head completely at aw that Robin was going to take part Sam's games, "I'm not listening." He looked away crossing his arms, displeased with them.

"Stone Cold, Stone Cold, Stone Cold," Robin, Maxie and Sam all joined together in shouting Stone Cold.

"Okay," Jason slightly smiled, but they continued, "Okay okay…"

Maxie playfully grinned at him, "Admit it Jason."

He looked at her like he didn't need to admit it to them or anyone else, but he quietly whispered seeing their eyes stare him down like they would jump again at saying the word, "I like it."

"I'm sorry come again Jason," Robin put her hand behind her ear.

"Yeah I missed it," Sam leaned in doing the same thing.

"Me three," Maxie who was closest to him looked at him straight in the eyes.

"I like it," he raised his voice, but they looked at him like it was still unclear, "I LIKE IT WHEN HE SAYS STONE COLD." He said much louder than he needed to.

"That's what we thought you said," Maxie leaned back over to Robin who glanced at Sam, all of them lightly laughing

Jason's laugh came to a sigh, "But…He sure did prove himself." The moments became bittersweet memories.

"That's for sure," Sam slowly nodded, "He sure changed everything." Sam looked up at him not wanting to bring up so many memories from their relationship, but it was true, Spinelli had changed them, helped them and saved them.

"Yeah," Jason sighed before smiling, "But it isn't like we didn't do anything for him, remember that time we caught him smoking pot."

"Spinelli smoked pot?" Maxie asked having never known about this, she was quite shocked, but still had smile on her face.

Jason nodded, "We caught him once, didn't we Sam?"

She nodded, "And Jason grabbed him by the collar, pointed his finger at him and that was it, he never brought it in the house again. I took the pot to Alexis to help with the cancer…"

"Yeah where about three hours later we get a phone call from Alexis wondering what in world Spinelli was teaching Kristina," Jason crossed his arms before resting his hand on his cheek, "And you know what he said?"

Sam laughed, "I was training her to be a half pint hacker."

"Well that put the end to babysitting," Jason laughed before leaning his elbows on his knees and putting his hands over his mouth.

Nadine looked at Sam and Jason who almost appeared to her as Spinelli's parents of course they weren't, but they knew him so well, even Maxie knew him more so than she and Leyla, in a way the two felt out of place.

"Um, Jason?" Nadine curiously looked at him, "Is there someone we can call for him?"

Jason nodded no, "His grandmother is on a cruise and Spinelli never mentioned parents or siblings or any other relatives."

"Oh," Nadine felt stupid now, "Leyla and I are going to see if there's any update on the surgery." She gently grabbed Leyla's arm who looked a little surprised that Nadine wanted to leave.

Maxie looked over to Jason, "He really doesn't have anyone else?"

Jason nodded, "Nope and from what he's told me about his grandmother, well when I met the lady, she wasn't like a sweet woman infact," he could feel another story coming along, "When we showed up at his doorstep, Lulu and I, she just about went ballistic when we tried to tell that Spinelli had knocked a girl up."

Jason took a moment to the memory flood his mind, "In minutes she grabbed him by the ear and was yelling at him and well I didn't think she was nice."

Robin, Sam and Maxie made a face at him for he never used the word "nice" it was funny to hear him describe such a person.

"Well she wasn't," Jason took offense, "She wanted to kill Spinelli, she said…" Jason began to mock the woman waving his finger, "Did you get this girl in trouble, did you, you no good…" And then she'd insult him, I mean she was pretty much kicking him out of the house."

"Is that why," Maxie looked at Sam, "Is that what you guys took him in?"

"No, not really," Sam kind of felt bad about that, they were basically the reason his grandmother wanted nothing more to do with him.

"No Maxie," Jason finished explaining, "It was Lulu that came to us and forced us to basically take him in."

"And we've never looked back," Sam smiled at Jason.

"Well," Jason paused where he saw Sam's disappointed face, "I'm just kidding. Spinelli has helped me too much for me to regret ever meeting him."

Maxie sweetly smiled at the way Sam and Jason talked about Spinelli, it was obvious to her how even though the two were no longer together and had a nasty break up that they could still manage to be in the same room and get along for Spinelli's sake.

"Okay," Nadine walked over to them with Leyla right next to her.

Maxie pulled herself up from lounging on Robin, "Is everything okay?" She tried to read their faces for a hint.

"Yes," Nadine smiled with hesitance, "Well he made it through surgery with a few complications."

"What kind of complications?" Sam instinctively asked.

Leyla explained, "Um it's best that we don't go into specifics, Epiphany told us that she and Elizabeth are putting him in his room."

"Can I see him?" Maxie wanted to leap out of the seat and run to his bedside, but she took a step back realizing that Jason might want to see him first, "That is…" She looked at him, but he nodded with, "You go see him."

The elevators opened and Patrick walked out with Dr. Julian and Dr. Bayard, "Here they are…" Patrick pointed at Bayard specifically.

"Is this the family?" The old man looked at all of them trying to figure out how he might be related to the group of people.

"Yes," Maxie quickly said without a thought, "We're his family, is he going to be okay?"

Dr. Bayard walked towards them taking a deep breath, "I'm going to be honest with you so that there is no misunderstanding."

_Oh gawd what is he saying? _Maxie thought for his deep sigh and the way he removed his green scrub hat made her think that she could still lose Spinelli after all that's happened.

"Um the surgery went well as Ms. Mir and Ms. Crowe explained, we removed both bullets and repaired the artery, but…"

_But? But? What is there left to say?_ She looked at him not able to handle what he was going to say.

"But he's lost a significant amount of blood; you have to understand that the human body can not function properly when not enough blood is being pumped whether it's to the lungs to the heart or the brain."

"So what are you saying he's in a coma or something?" Sam wished he wasn't being so blunt.

"I'm saying he's not out of the woods yet, he had a bullet embolism which in most cases the patient can have a full recovery and in ten days be released from the hospital and be fine and I believe Mr. Spinelli has every chance of pulling out of this if he lives through the night," he said like the outlook was grim.

"But you don't think he will, do you?" Maxie snapped with attitude, what was up with all the doctors here having no bedside manner.

"Hey I didn't say that," Dr. Bayard became agitated.

Jason saw Maxie's upset face and he instantly felt like he had to protect her because Spinelli wasn't here, "Hey," Jason raised his voice snapping his fingers, "Don't talk to her like that, she's worried about her friend we all are so unless you can talk to us with a little more bedside manner, I'll talk to Dr. Julian to give me the information on Spinelli's condition."

The doctor was stunned never had someone snapped at him like that before, he was extremely embarrassed.

"Thanks," Maxie looked at Jason really appreciating the fact that he so nobly stood up for her.

"No problem," he smiled before looking up at the doctor waiting for him to get his stuff together.

"I'm sorry," the man sighed in regret, "I'm trying to say that he's going to need more then medicine, it's in god's hands now."

"So," Jason looked at him with continued annoyance, "So if Spinelli passes through the night he'll make a full recovery?"

Dr. Bayard nodded, "He should, now from what I hear this patient is a computer whiz?"

"Yes," Sam nodded looking at Jason, "He's a very smart man."

Jason elaborate, "He works with me in the coffee business."

The doctor nodded like he wanted to be enlightened as to what this man does for Mr. Morgan in the coffee business.

"See I'm a coffee Importer," there was always a slight silence when Jason mentioned what he did for a living for Sam, Robin, Maxie and even Patrick, Leo and the nurses knew it wasn't true, "Spinelli handles all my accounts and finances and things, his bills and care will be covered by me, but yes he works on the computer a lot."

"Well, he's going to need extensive physical therapy on his shoulder the bullet struck a nerve chord and we were only able to repair about eighty-five percent of the damage," he tried to seem hopeful seeing the blonde's face turn disappointed. "But I've seen worse Ma'am being a combat surgeon in Vietnam you see a lot of things no surgeon should ever have to see and I'm telling you, he is one fortunate man, a lucky man." He smiled, this was his bedside manner, "It really could have been a lot worse, he could have had a collapsed lung or a dozen other side effects and he doesn't. I'm most hopeful as should all you who know this man that he should pull through given that he has his friends and family by his side."

He could see he had given the blonde one the hope she needed, perhaps a little too much hope, "I have to see other patients, Dr. Julian," he turned to Leo, "Begin running tests on him immediately we won't know the extent of the damage done to his heart until we get those tests, Nurse Crowe, Nurse Mir…" He turned to them, "I'm going to allow one visitor at a time, make sure Epiphany and Nurse Webber have cleared him for visitors." He turned back to the family with a smile, "Good night, I'll check in on him later, if you have any questions its best you ask Dr. Julian here." He smiled once more and then disappeared in the elevator.

Dr. Julian smiled at Maxie, "See I told you we'd take care of him."

Maxie rolled her eyes wiping her tears, "Can I see him?"

"Yes," he smiled, "This way," he held out his arm she grabbed it like her life depended on it.

Everyone followed from behind where as soon as Spinelli came into sight and Maxie stopped right in front of the window, looking at Elizabeth and Epiphany who were finishing up.

"Can he breathe on his own?" Maxie glanced up at Leo.

"Yes, he can," he said in disbelief, "Maxie, I hope you realize," he said softly in the dark corridor, "He's a living miracle. Dr. Bayard was being nice, Spinelli should be dead right now." He didn't tell her this to be a cruel unfeeling doctor, he told her to let her know that there was a reason Spinelli pulled through, she was the reason Spinelli wasn't lying in a morgue.

She slowly nodded glancing back at Elizabeth and Epiphany who were leaving the room.

"He's all set," Elizabeth smiled waiting for her to jump in and see him, but she stood there.

"You can see him now." Elizabeth explained, but Maxie didn't move.

Leo gave Elizabeth and Epiphany the go ahead to leave, "Maxie."

"I can't," she looked away from the window, "I can't see him." She thought she could handle seeing him in a hospital bed, but not like this, not unconscious, not with what she had been through with him.

"It's okay," Jason stepped forward, "I'll see him first." He offered knowing that maybe if Maxie saw Spinelli with a few people that she would gain the confidence to see him.

She smiled in relief where Leo looked at her, "Maxie I have to go look at a few charts, I'll be back soon." He gently took her hand off his and placed it on the window seal.

Sam and Robin walked to her side as Maxie longed for the doctor to stay, but in truth she needed someone to lean on and although she had so many faces around her offering support, she felt more alone then ever because the only person she trusted herself with, the only person that made her feel completely safe was Spinelli and he was not available at the moment.

"Maxie," Sam softly looked up at her as she had her back turned to the window, "How come you don't want to see him?" Sam looked over her shoulder as Jason who took a seat next to him.

Jason clenched his jaw completely unaware that he was going to show such emotions, "Hey man." He hesitantly touched Spinelli's wrist, "You're going to be okay, you're going to be okay because…because there are a lot of people counting on you and you can't let them down," Jason leaned in with a tear rolling down his cheek, "So you need to fight, you need to hang on."

Sam looked away from the window, "Maxie he's alive."

Maxie glanced at the floor not wanting to see anyone in her vision.

Robin gently touched her shoulder, "Maxie, what is it? Why can't you see him?"

"Because I just can't," she leaned off the window to stand in the middle of the floor, "I can't because every time," she glanced up at the window, "Every time that I see him I think back to the docks." She whimpered turning away from the window, from Sam and Robin and walked to the wall in front of her, "I think," she leaned her back on it and turned to them, "I think of all the blood, the blood that kept…kept coming out and how no matter what I did I couldn't stop it!"

Robin motioned to walk towards her where Maxie quickly put her hand up to stay away, "I see him," she pointed the window before her hand fell to her hip, "And I think back to his face," she wiped her tears, "His eyes, his blue eyes that said he was scared…like he knew he was going to die in my arms and as many times as I held him and told him he wasn't going to die as many times I tried to do my best to make him feel better in the end..."

"In the end Maxie," Nadine walked towards her, "It worked." She looked at Maxie to stop beating her self over this, "Whatever you did, it was enough."

"Mr. Spinelli is alive and once you go in there he'll be a lot better," Leyla insisted.

Sam put her hand on Maxie's shoulder, "You did what any of us would do, you kept him calm, you kept him hopeful, you kept him alive until help came, you did enough."

Maxie nodded as tears seem to naturally fall down her heartbroken eyes, "No it wasn't." She crossed her arms, "It wasn't because I can still hear his voice, his voice trembling with fear with words that I will never forget."

A silence set in as they all imagined in their own way how a distraught Spinelli would speak if he believed he was dying.

"I just," she glanced up at the window seeing Jason get up from the chair, "It's too hard." She turned away from the room as Jason opened the door sniffling, "You can go in their now."

"Um its okay, someone else can go." She whisked her hand which Jason quickly became offended by, it was as if she wanted someone else to take him, like it was a burden to go in and see him.

"What?" Jason looked at her where the two young nurses quickly said, "We'll go in and see him." The two scurried into the room even though only one visitor at a time was allowed, they were nurses so they could bend the rules.

"Jason if she doesn't want to see him then," Sam wasn't too thrilled about it either, but Jason and even Robin were becoming bothered.

"I don't understand," Jason walked towards her, "You don't want to see the man who saved your life?"

"Jason," she turned to him, "It's not like that," her lip trembled of course she wanted to see him, but she was just afraid, afraid she'd walk in their and…

"Then explain," Jason pouted crossing his arms, "Because this is how I see it, I see someone who is afraid to go in there and be with the one person who was willing to die for her! Maxie he is alive! Alive!"

He looked at her with anguish, "They aren't gonna say this, but I will!" Jason was somewhat fuming with anger, his best friend, his most trusted employee could die and she can't even thank him? Can't even show him gratitude? What a slap in the face.

"Jason," Robin raised her voice, this was her cousin, her young cousin who didn't deserve his frustrations.

Sam jumped in, "Maxie," she tried to sound less threatening than Jason, "What he's trying to say is that Spinelli is alive." She was waiting for Maxie to understand that Spinelli wasn't going anywhere unless Maxie wanted him to.

"No," Jason looked at Sam, "What I'm saying is that he jumped into those bullets to save you to save you're ignorant stupid self from getting killed." This was why he didn't like working with young adults and sometimes Spinelli because they just don't listen, they don't listen until someone dies and then it's too late.

Maxie sadly rolled her eyes, he said he wasn't going to make her feel bad for her leaving the penthouse and now he was.

He pointed to the room and then at Maxie multiple times yelling at her, "Now whether he did it because he loves you or because you're his best friend or because he wanted to save a life, he is in there fighting for his life and you can't even go in there and be thankful!" He nodded disappointedly, "That's a great way to show how much you care for him…" In that moment his respect for her dropped, he never had much respect for her in the first place, but Spinelli had convinced him there was a different side to her, but he, he couldn't see it, he saw a selfish woman in front of him, one that he could no longer look at.

"Jayson," Maxie cried trying to get his attention so she could explain, but he didn't want to hear it, Maxie Jones was no longer a good person in his book not like she ever was before.

Sam watched Maxie closed her eyes with her hand pressed intensely on her forehead, "Maxie no one says you have to stay by his bedside all night long, just go in for a few minutes."

"It's not that I don't want to," Maxie opened hear eyes wiping her face of tears, "It's just…" She became interrupted as Leyla and Nadine walked out.

"We've got to go," Nadine wished they could stay but they showed them their pagers, "Duty calls."

Maxie nodded, "He'd be happy that you two saw him," she sweetly smiled even at Leyla whom she still didn't like the idea of she and Spinelli possibly having a thing.

Leyla smiled, "He'd be happy if you saw him."

Maxie slightly nodded as the two nurses left her alone with Sam and Robin.

Sam frowned at her, "Well if you're not going to see him I will."

Maxie watched as Sam discreetly walked into the room, "I'm being horrible Robin," she glanced at her, "Spinelli has been there for me all the time and now when he really needs me I can't be there?" She folded her hands into her face, "What does that say about our friendship?"

Robin walked towards her putting her hand on her back, "I think it says much more than you think."

Maxie slowly glanced up at her waiting for her to explain what she meant, "Maxie…" Robin led her to a bench nearby.

They sat down and Robin looked at her, "Did Spinelli tell you he loved you?"

Maxie nodded while whimpering, "Yes." Her hands grabbed the bench, "I think he actually meant it too." No, she knew he meant it, she knew that when he said those words that he really loved her.

"Could it be…" Robin tilted her head, "Could it be you love him too?"

Maxie didn't respond instead she looked away from her cousin, trying to avoid the answer.

"Well," Robin slightly smiled, it was obvious, "I'm not going to make you go in there," she saw Maxie's surprised glanced thinking that she was going to pressure her like Jason or Sam or everyone else.

"Maxie," however she wanted to make her opinion clear, "Do I think he needs you? Yes. Do I think you're being selfish by not seeing him? No, but do I think that you love him?" She knew she had surprised Maxie once again, "Yes. I think you know that you love him and it scares the hell out of you because all you've ever known is death."

It was true, it really was. Every guy she ever fell in love with died or turned to drugs, she never had one love that actually seemed to last.

"Maxie," Robin looked at her to be honest with herself, "You got a second chance with him. Do you know what any of us would do to get a second chance with the people we love the most?"

"Do you know what I would do to get a second chance with Stone? To have another day with him or another year or even just five minutes, anything, I would do anything to get back the time I lost with him."

Robin could see Maxie's face of confusion of uncertainty like she had often felt the same way about the people she lost in her life, she'd do anything to get them back, but she always in a way felt bad about wanting them back in her life.

Robin softly spoke, "And being with Patrick right now and having a baby doesn't mean I didn't love Stone any less or that I didn't love Jason," she gently touched Maxie's hand, "Just like you being with Spinelli doesn't mean you didn't love Jesse or Cooper or that Spinelli didn't love or care about Georgie."

Maxie could feel the tears swelling up in her eyes again and Robin could see the words were having a profound affect on her, "Hun all it means, all it means is finding someone now to live in the moment with right now. And I think today proves that tomorrow is not promised. So live today, live with no regrets so that when tomorrow doesn't come, you don't wish that things could have been different."

Robin always seemed to make sense out of the most difficult and unsolvable situations, it always amazed Maxie at the voice of reason she had, "You make it sound so simple."

"Maybe it is," Robin frowned with a smile, "Maybe the answer is just that simple." She pointed to her Maxie's heart, "Follow it darling because the longer you wait, the more time your wasting and you know as well as I do that time is precious so go in there and sit with Spinelli and talk to him."

"But he's in a coma and I know what you're going to say comatose patients can hear us, but…"

"But in most cases it works, I mean I'm just a doctor who studies the nervous system and the brain so what do I know?" She teased and Maxie began to laugh.

"Alright," Maxie rolled her eyes convinced now.

"Okay," she slowly got up with Maxie when her pager went off.

"I've got to take this, will you be okay?" Robin hated to leave her.

"Yeah I'll be fine," Maxie nodded with a smile wiping her face.

Robin smiled back touching her shoulder, "Okay then. I'll check up on you later."

She watched as Robin walked down the hall and then turned to the direction of Spinelli's room where Sam was coming out.

"Hey," Sam said as Maxie stopped in front of her, "Alexis just texted me, I've got to baby-sit the girls, it seems with the shooting and Anthony's death and the Johnny and Lulu stuff that she'll be home late tonight…"

"Go," Maxie crossed her arms like she could handle being alone.

Sam was surprised by her change in behavior, "Are you sure? It's not real late, I can bring the girls over here, Spinelli loves the half pint hackers," she joked.

Maxie laughed, "Well from what you told me earlier Alexis would probably have a cow if you brought them over so you should just stay at home with them, maybe drink some Orange Soda in his name?"

Sam smiled sweetly at the thought, she was almost surprised that Maxie had suggested it, "I think we'll do that, have some barbeque chips, in honor of Spinelli," Sam glanced at the doorway.

"Well you should probably go then," Maxie suggested not wanting to rush her out of the hospital, but after talking with Robin, Maxie's point of you of things seemed to be clearer.

"Right," Sam nodded before giving her a hug that she could tell Maxie needed, "He's going to be okay."

Maxie could feel herself getting teary eyed again, "Yeah I keep hoping he will."

"Well the key is to believe, believe it will happen and it will." Sam pulled out of the hug with a hopeful smile.

Maxie nodded, "Thanks you know, thanks for being here for me."

"Sure thing," Sam nodded before giving her a friendly punch and proceeding down the hall.

Maxie watched as she turned the corner and then slowly turned to Spinelli's room. She gently pushed the door back and stared at her initial fears coming back to haunt her.

_I think today proves that tomorrow is not promised, so live today, live with no regrets so that when tomorrow doesn't come, you don't wish that things could have been different._

She remembered Robin's words and bravely stepped into the room just as Jason came around the corner. When he saw Maxie walk into the room he smiled and decided not to disturb her, she obviously had a lot to discuss with herself and with Spinelli even if he was unconscious.

She turned to close the door and when she slowly turned back to face him she stood there at a loss for words. Still feeling nauseated and a little light headed which she assumed was still from the shock of today's events she found herself having no energy to really stand up anymore.

Brushing her hands on the pink scrubs she borrowed from Leyla she took a deep breath as she walked forward saying, "Hey Spin."

As she closer to his bed she desperately wanted to touch his hand, cup his cheek, stroke his hair, kiss his forehead anything to feel close to him because as she took as seat in the chair that was inches from his bedside she never felt so far away from him.

_**She moves me**_

The heart monitor went up.

_**  
She takes me in**_

She lied back in the chair as a flash back of memories hit her.

"_Oh…oh Spinelli"_

"_All…better"_

"_Promise me…You'll love again."_

"_I'm…I'm scared."_

"_Listen to me, you are NOT going to die."_

Maxie closed her eyes as she remembered just how panicked she was, panicked yet determined not to let him go.

"_I love you."_

The heart monitor continued to rise; she was taking him back through the memory, through the moments that were going to change their relationship forever.

"_We're…a good…team."_

"_You saved me, you did good…"_

"_I did well."_

"_I wish…we had more time."_

_**  
It feels like the first time**_

For the first time she wished the same, she wished they had more time, more time to figure out the depths of their friendship to figure out if love was a possibility.

_**She finds me**_

She opened her eyes as warm tears streamed down her face, "I like that." She flashed back to the last words he said to her

"_Goodbye, my love."_

"My love," she grasped the arms of the chair holding onto dear life as the memories were beginning to overwhelm her.

_**She blinds me**_

"I mean not because I love you, no…." She explained and he stopped listening no matter how ridiculous the tone of her voice was that was trying to avoid the truth.

The monitor began to drop, little by little.

_**Yet she opens my eyes**_

_After everything that's happened only to come back for friendship, why?_

_**Take this love**_

_And accept it with open arms, let our hearts take their course or let me drift away because I won't force what you won't admit and if you won't admit then I won't stay. _

_**It calls your name**_

"I don't know what it is that's going on between us…" She reached out for his hand, "But Spinelli I need you to stick around for us to figure this out."

_**No need to walk alone  
**_

Squeezing his hand, "The doctors say you've got a long way to go in your recovery and I want you to know, I'm not going to leave you," she pulled her chair in closer where she leaned over stroking his hair, "I'm going to take care of you until you don't need me anymore."

_I'll always need you._

She wandered her hand from his hair to his cheek that was warm now, "You're not going to do this alone, you hear? I'm going to be here for you every step of the way, you're my best friend I'm not going to abandon you when you need me the most."

_**From nowhere to now here  
**_

_Back to square one, still no where at there current destination of here._

_**She lives inside me  
**_

"Spinelli," she looked down at his hand. She stared at it wondering if it would be okay for her to gently pick his hand up and press it against her cheek, she felt like doing so my break him, but not doing so just might.

_**Oh heavens here tonight  
**_

_Soon Maximista, Georgie is near, so decide._

_**She wakes me up just in time**_She raised his hand placing his palm on her cheek before slowly closing her eyes and softly saying, "I need you Spinelli."

_**Now she's beside me  
**_

She leaned up from the chair to rest her cheek against his with his hand still in hers and her other hand gently stroking his hair, she closed her eyes and whispered, "Make me believe that love doesn't end with death."

_**I feel I could die tonight  
**_

_Then make me believe that friendship leads to love._

_**It feels like this love keeps me alive**_

Beeeeeeeeep……..

* * *

Next Chapter: It's now or never Maxie, will she be compelled to tell him ILY now that he's dying. Expect Jason and Maxie bonding here as well to make up for Jason's yelling in the previous chapter. Also the theme which I thought I was going to use in this chapter, but it didn't turn out that way, the theme for the next chapter "What becomes of the broken hearted" remember that nightshift episode when Toussant was dying...hmmm.

So if you don't already know, my story is posted over at Opposite Attraction, on there my name is SpixieIsTrueLove2289 so if you're there just say hi!

Review! Thanks for reading!


	7. What becomes of the broken hearted?

A/N: So this chapter is a little weird. Based on the song what becomes of the broken heart. I used some ideas from the night shift episodes and from when Luke almost died on GH, his heart attack sotry and I kind of put together a little thing for Spinelli in him caught between life and death. This is one of those chapters where it would have made an excellent seen on GH, but writing it was just a little hard. LOl I don't know, I hope it's not to annoying or cheesy. Enjoy! Oh and btw, the italics and bold letters are the lyrics, just the italic words are the black and white flash backs (Spins fantasy). I hope its easy to read if not I'll try to rewrite it. Have fun with it!

Chapter 7

She slowly left his cheek cold hearing the sound that she knew full well what it meant, but it wasn't until she looked at the monitors, the pulse that was no more and began to panic.

_**As I walk this land with broken dreams**_

He felt himself in a place all too familiar, his fantasies, where he starred as Sam Spade, the private detective on a dark gloomy street of the 1920's.

_The jackal has seen this before._

His eyes scanned the curb that had an eerie fog growing along it and then glanced up at the brightly yet dimmed light pole and suddenly before he could question the place anymore he felt an object in his hand ala a cigarette.

_Peculiar, this is._

He pondered the item, trying to remember what he had once done with it in this abandoned world he once imagined. He looked around waiting for instruction, but found none, the place was empty and it felt as though something was waiting for him. It was then when he brought the cigarette to his lips and by instinct he reached in his pocket for a lighter where as soon as he drew the flame closer to the tobacco stick his ears perked up.

He turned around feeling as though his femme fatale would be behind him at least that's what he remembered the last time he day dreamed into the work Dashiell Hammett, but his eyes fell shot of nothing but a shadow, the shadow of a woman heading into a alley, a mysterious yet intriguing alley that convinced that Jackal to remove his cigarette from his mouth, place the lighter into his pocket and follow the soft voice.

"Spinelli!" Maxie jerked her head to his bedside, placing her hands on his cheeks, "Spinelli!"

He followed the slender figure that exposed itself in the glow of the profusely growing fog. She teased him from time to time as they casually walked down the alley that never seemed to end, but she never once revealed who she was. As he felt her presence slipping through his fingers he picked up the pace stepping into puddles of fresh rain before shouting, _Ma'am_. She came to a stop where he grabbed onto the ladder railing next to him in attempt to catch his breath. Leaning his hand up from his leg he narrowed in on the angelic face that turned to him. Standing poised he slid his hands into his pockets as the woman lit up under the light pole.

She winked her eye compelling him to walk towards her where as soon as he stopped in front of her he said, _what's a beautiful thing like you doing in such an unsafe part of town at this time of night?_

_I could ask you the same thing._ She smirked before placing her hand on his cheek, _Come on Mr. Jackal_. She took his hand and began to walk him towards the unlit area.

_Wait. _He stopped her. _Let me go first, let me protect you._

She glanced up at him with shiny blonde hair and sparkling red lips with a face of confusion, _but you already did._

He looked at her taken back, what did she mean by 'already'?

She pulled on his hand walking backwards into the unknown saying, _it's time I protect you, my love._

He repeated the words, _my love,_ in confusion until he suddenly remembered what he was doing here. He felt a strain on his chest, but as he motioned to touch it her hand came from the shadows touching his chest, _what becomes of the broken hearted Damian?_

_They die. _He felt her tug and looked once more at the alley that faded away before at last freely walking into the shadows of the underworld knowing full well where he was headed.

_**I have visions of many things**_

Standing in the ghostly dark area of what he wondered might possibly be hell for he did work for the mob, it would somewhat make sense, he did kill three men.

"Spinelli!" Maxie shouted before turning her focus to Dr. Julian, Elizabeth and Epiphany bursting through the doors, "He's in V-Fib," Dr. Julian looked at Epiphany as he took the paddles off of the crash car she brought in, "Defribulate to 200."

"No…" She faintly said as they motioned to take her away from him, "Spinelli!" She turned to him grabbing his hand.

He felt a touch that had gone away, _Tell mi my lady if you're still here that is, where am I?_

The place dimly lit up a diner where he looked up at an old man behind the counter who was focused on a lady at Juke Box.

_Miko,_ he raised his voice and the old man nodded annoyingly and walked into the back with the word Chump still written on his back.

_Punk, _he uttered under his breath before hearing the tune of a slow jazzy song, _So…_He turned to her, _Is this goodbye?_ He placed his hand out suggesting a dance.

She put her hand in his, _That all depends on you._

He twirled her around before placing her hand on his shoulder and sliding his hand around her waist, _Oh no, it's up to you._

She frowned; _I don't want to lose the Jackal._

He sweetly smiled pushing her hair back, _You won't._ He gently wrapped his fingers around her neck while tightly grabbing hold of her waist and leaned her over to the floor, _mend my broken heart and I'll stay. _He looked into her blue eyes that glistened like they never have before waiting for the magic words to come out, but she leaned ever so closely to his lips and he swung her back to the slow dance.

_**Love's happiness is just an illusion  
**_

_Won't you miss me?_ She asked him like how could he leave a woman he loves, how could he choose death over love.

He softly smiled, _You know I will._

_Then why must you leave?_ She stopped moving bringing her hands that were hanging around his neck to his cheeks.

_Because life is but a delusion without the woman who holds the key to my heart, _he frowned as he took her hands off his cheeks_. _

_**Filled with sadness and confusion,**_

"No!" Maxie shouted feeling the hit-man's arms around her pulling her away from him, "Spinelli!" She reached out. _**  
**_

"Defribulate to 250," Dr. Julian placed the paddles on Spinelli's chest, "Clear!"

_**What becomes of the broken hearted  
**_

"Shhhh…" Jason held her in his arms as she collapsed into a breakdown of tears moaning, "Spin-el-li!" She closed her eyes hearing Dr. Julian frantically shout numbers of higher defribulations, "Clear!" _Don't do this to me Spinelli._

_I will always love you, _he kissed her hands before turning away from her.

_**Who had love that's now departed?  
**_

"Give him one milligram of Epinephrine!" Dr. Julian waited for response, "Shock to 360."

_**I know I've got to find**_

He felt her hand still in his and glanced at her, _I have to go._

_If you had to go, _she walked towards him placing her hand on his cheek, _you'd see a light.__**  
**_

_**Some kind of peace of mind  
**_

_There's another life out there for me, maybe a life where I can really be Sam Spade, _he softly smiled.

_You're life is here with me,_ she pulled him closer, her lips falling short of his.

_Is it?_ He stared at her before looking over his shoulder at the doors that were sinister, _The light will come though._

_**Maybe.**_

_Well, until then, _she took his hand and walked him to the center of the room where she forced him to continue the dance of the broken hearted.

_**The fruits of love grow all around  
**_

_I've loved before, _she looked up at him uncertain with what love could mean between them.

_As have I, _he looked at her.

_**But for me they come a tumblin' down, **_he watched her glance away from him catching her worried eyes that they'd tumble down too.

_**Everyday heartaches grow a little stronger  
**_

_But like she said, _he lifted her chin, _live in the moment and Maxie Jones every moment I'm not living it with you, _he took her hand and placed it on his heart, _I ache and I ache and I long for you to set your eyes on the Jackal._

_**I can't stand this pain much longer  
**_

He pulled her into a kiss where she leaned out with tears in her eyes, _I can't, _her lip trembled, _I'm sorry._

He frowned, _I'm sorry too. _He turned to the doors that were slowly opening.

_**I walk in shadows  
**_

_No, _she tugged his arm pulling him to a shadow, pulling him away from the light.

"Clear!" Dr. Julian shouted once more, "Damn it! Um give him one milligram of Lidocaine!"

_**Searching for light  
**_

_It's coming, _he drifted to the light that was headed his direction. He looked at his hand that was still hanging onto hers, _They're waiting for me. _He desperately looked at her to say something to keep him here, but she was silent.

_Very well then, _he brought her hand to his lips taking one last look at her before letting go of her hand and slowly turning away from her.

_**Cold and alone**_

She didn't no where she had gone to, but as Maxie opened her eyes to the doctors and nurses desperately trying to resuscitate him overwhelming tears formed as she felt his presence fading away leaving her with goose bumps.

_**No comfort in sight,  
**_

"Give him two milligrams of Lidocaine!"

"Doctor!" Elizabeth shouted.

"What!" Leo snapped.

"He can't have anymore than three milligrams, this is it! You won't be able to give him anything else!" Elizabeth reminded.

"Give it to him!" Leo charged the crash cart to 360, "Clear!" Maxie watched his body jolt into the air and closed her eyes at the reality in front of her.

He disappeared in the spot light and she appeared in the diner looking for comfort that was no longer in sight.

_**Hoping and praying for someone to care  
**_

He stared up at the bright light wishing for someone to steer him away from this dead end.

_**Help me please.  
**_

_Where are you?_ She looked around, is she too late?

_**I'm searching though I don't succeed,**_

_Mr. Jackal! _

_**  
But someone look, there's a growing need.  
**_

He looked away from the light, _wait, _he told them.

_**Oh, he is lost, there's no place for beginning,  
**_

In the bright light he can see her in the dark, alone, scared, worried and crying. The light shines brighter trying to cover her image, but he looks up at the higher gods, _Wait, _he looks away, he looks for her, _I think she might, _he turned away from the light at the doors to the center of the diner which seems to be the relative between life and death.

_Mr. Jackal._

He saw her come into the light where she motioned to take his hand.

_Spinelli._

He felt someone else take his other hand, fair Georgie.

_My two favorite gals._

_**All that's left is an unhappy ending.  
**_

Caught between two worlds where leaving one and staying in another could still be the end of him, physically or emotionally.

_**Now what's become of the broken-hearted  
**_

He looked at Georgie, a white gown, the sweet angel he remembered her to be and then he looked at his femme fatale the woman he imagined to be Maxie, _What'll it be?_

_**Who had love that's now departed?  
**_

Dr. Julian waved the paddles away from his chest before looking at the monitors, "How long Epiphany, how long has it been?"

"To long," she glanced down at her watch.

"Okay," he set the paddles down, "Time of…"

_**I'll be searching everywhere  
**_

He looked at her who was taking far too long for what should be a simple answer and turned to the angel of heaven, _Fair and wise Georgie, it does not surprise me that you are in charge of all things holy._

_Well Spinelli, _she smiled walking with him out the door.

_**Just to find someone to care.  
**_

_No, _she shouted with urgency.

_**I'll be looking everyday**_

"No!" Maxie pushed herself away from Jason who didn't have the heart to stop her.

_**I know I'm gonna find a way  
**_

He came to a stop in the doorway where as he turned to her, she walked towards him, a woman on a mission.

_**Nothings gonna stop me now  
**_

Maxie sprinted to his bedside hearing Dr. Julian usher words that he was gone, "No!" Her hand caressed his cheeks, "You can't be gone because I love you."

_**I'll find a way somehow**_

_I love you Mr. Jackal, please don't break my heart by leaving me all alone_, she looked deeply into his eyes as if she'd be the saddest woman on earth if she left him.

_I wouldn't dream of it darling, _he let go of the angels hand turning his back to the doors and put his hands on her cheeks, _I could never break your heart, _he pulled her into a kiss.

"Spinelli," Maxie softly smiled at him, letting his hand rest on her cheek while her fingers stroke his brown hair, "I love you, I do, please, please don't break my heart by leaving me, I don't think I can handle losing you."

Maxie looked at his face that was still white, his eyes that were still closed, the cheeks weren't red, his lips that were still, she stared at him with belief that love could be strong enough to bring him back.

"Maxie," Dr. Julian softly whispered as he walked around the bed over to her, "He's gone, his heart just couldn't take it."

"No," she brushed him off, "He's going to come back because I love him."

"I know you cared about him, Maxie, but the odds…"

She snapped at him, "Don't talk to me about odds!" She let go of Spinelli's hand turning her whole body to him, "Because the odds that he'd be able to kill three men after being shot twice were never expected of him, the odds that I'd be able to save his life because I took some stupid CPR class with my sister two years ago was something I never expected!" She continued charging at him to the doorway, "The odds of him surviving on Pier 51 were slim and the odds that he would make it through surgery weren't even in his favor and you know what? He lived! He made it through all of that, he can certainly come back from the dead if I want him to!"

**Beep.**

"That's," Dr. Julian took a deep breath as the sound grew stronger, "That's impossible," he walked passed Maxie to the monitors that Epiphany and Elizabeth were quickly scanning to see if they were correct.

"Page Dr. Bayard and the chief immediately," Dr. Julian just stared at monitor as the heart rhythm of the patient continued to rise, "I'll be damned." He backed away with his hands on his hips before looking at his patient, "All I have to say…" He looked at Maxie, "All I have to say is that he must really love you." He walked out of the room to take a breather.

Maxie placed her hand over her cheek with a small smile forming, she never expected it to work, she never expected to say the words and they actually bring him back. As much as it moved her as much as it made her value what they had a hundred times more, it scared her. It made her realize just how powerful his love for her was and a small part of her couldn't help but want to run in the other direction for this had never happened to her before, no, this was something that happened in fairy tales and surely her life was not a fairy tale despite the happy ending she received tonight.

"Maxie," Jason softly called her name walking towards her figure that stood tall in amazement of what had happened.

She wasn't able to look at the man who came up from behind her. It wasn't because she was mad at him or hurt from earlier, no, she was simply too fixated on the man in front of her.

"Forget what I said earlier," he leaned in towards her ear while his eyes stared at Spinelli who made them all not only believe in miracles, but made them believe in love again, "What I've just seen here tonight proves to me that I never need to question you." And he left it like that, he left the room to wander to wherever knowing that from this day on he never needed to question her feelings, they were clear to him as to everyone else, she loved him and it saved him.

--

Next Chapter: Told you it was a little weird. Hopefully it wasn't too hard to follow. Well I think Spinelli might just wake up in the middle of the night and surpise Maxie, what do you think? I'm trying to decide if this is the end of the story after the next chapter because I kind of wanted to show Spinelli and Maxie actually admit their feelings, now that they are in love and work together on trying to figure out where to go from their, have a little drama and stuff. But technically the story, the title "Love would save us" has been fulfilled. Let me know what you think, I'll totally continue if you want me to.

Review! Thanks!


	8. Keep holding on

Chapter 8

The hospital was quiet in the late hours of the night once Dr. Ford and Dr. Bayard along with a few other attendants had checked in on what the hospital was calling "A medical miracle" only the miracle had nothing to do with medicine, no, Damian Spinelli resided in his hospital bed as a legend as a man who came back for love.

The floors of the hospital where calm, nurses were finishing up paper work, doctors were getting last minute rest before having to scrub in, patients were sleeping soundly to their dark rooms that glowed from the luminance of the hallways, the hospital was silent.

It was two in the morning, visiting hours were over and yet she was still there. Sitting by his bedside, her hand on his, her head resting on the sheets where her eyes fell asleep at the sound of his heart beat, his heart that was beating ever so strong for her.

His breathing was slow, but calming to her. His chest, rising up and down, a pleasant harmony, he was alive, the worst had happened, he was here to stay.

"Aw," his voice quietly sighed with a dry rasp feeling the pain of his wounds as his eyes fluttered open.

He licked his chafe lips trying to grasp his surroundings, trying to remember what brought him to General Hospital and then it dawned on him, the strain he felt every time he breathed, the right side of his body aching, his shoulder, his chest, his heart.

He moaned as the memories partially flooded back with no sound, just images of him of bullets of evil Anthony's men of blood and then of her. He took a deep sigh feeling the repercussions seconds afterward wondering if his love for her had been enough and in the room that appeared to be as dark as a bat cave he couldn't make out the figure to his bedside until he saw her hand, her hand holding onto his like she never wanted to let go.

Swallowing the little bit of saliva in his mouth he cleared his throat where he attempted to say her name, "Max…" He paused feeling the syllable caught in his chest that wheezed in distress.

He relaxed his shoulders in the stiff pillows, frustrated that he couldn't say her name that he could barely speak without feeling a stab of pain enter his literally broken heart that emotionally was whole, not a crack in its mainframe.

The oxygen tubes in his nose were tedious and completely useless in helping him speak her name, he found himself unable to breath, but then he remembered that this was normal; she always took his breath away.

Unable to compile the strength to utter four syllables, he knew the next best thing was to embrace her hand, to acknowledge her touch.

One simple reflex to touch her cold bear hand that she rested on top of his to keep warm was all it took to wake her up from the exhaustion of a dramatic day. Hesitant as to what she felt, she slowly raised her head up from the sheets with her eyes staring straight into his, in disbelief that he had woken up, but in tears as he uttered four syllables to her delighted face, "Max-i-mis-ta."

She felt an earthquake of emotions as his thumb graced over her hand that was rising in temperature, it left her quite speechless. She hiccupped her tears of contentment never expecting her to react so gratefully upon his return, but it was overpowering the need she had to feel close to him. Gently taking his hand in hers, she ever so slowly placed it on her cheek where the smile he so easily expressed made tears stream down her eyes, but luckily for her, she had someone to wipe them all away, "I'm okay Maxie." He slowly nodded rubbing his thumb over her silk skin that was drenched in drops of worry.

She huffed in a crack of happiness, "Well now I know you're definitely not okay," she joked, he always knew when to make her laugh.

"I'm okay, Maximista," he corrected himself.

"That's better," she softly chuckled before slowly rising up from the chair to gently kiss his cheek.

She kissed his whacky chocolate hair, letting her left hand gently stroke his curls while her other cupped his cheek before she leaned in to kiss his forehead where for a moment she closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his, "Spinelli."

It wasn't in the way she kissed him, it wasn't in the way she touched him, it was in the way she spoke his name that told him he was gravely missed, "Shh…" He tried to sooth her muffled cries as the reality of how close she came to losing him finally hit her.

Her tears leaked onto his face and to be honest, he didn't mind, he didn't mind at all as she hugged him letting her sobs quietly take over her fragile figure.

"Hey," he gently spoke in concern using his left hand, his good hand, to gently pull away her hand that had been stroking his hair.

She leaned away with her face looking down in shame for letting him see her like this, but as she turned away he once again surprised her, there was still so much about him that she didn't even know existed.

His fingers gracefully grabbed hold of her chin bringing her attention to him where as their eyes met he cupped her cheek and gazed into her eyes, "God I missed you."

She clenched her jaw at hearing that he missed her, but he didn't have to tell her, she saw it in his eyes, in the way he looked at her like no other man had ever looked at her before, like she was the only woman in the room, the only one that mattered and it was then that her mind began pondering the thoughts of what if she had never seen those blue eyes again.

"Spinelli," her lip trembled as tears raced down her cheeks, struggling to find the words to express what she was feeling at this exact moment.

"It's going to be okay," he slowly nodded with pain spiking up his back, but he never led on.

"How do you always know when to say the right thing?" She stared at him desperately wanting to know why he had this affect on her, why he could say such words and believe him, "Huh? How do you…" She choked on her tears unable to finish her question.

"I just do," he softly smiled before his face tensed up and he moved his hand from her cheek to his chest.

"I'll go get someone," she quickly leaned away knowing she should have done that first.

"No," he quickly took his hand off his chest, "Stay," he grabbed her hand feeling the tug in his shoulder, "Ah…" He let go of her hand to grab his chest again.

"Oh Spinelli," she sprinted to his bedside completely horrified, "I'm so sorry," she wanted to touch him but didn't know where, "I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"No," he slowly took his hand of his chest before looking up at her brushing off his pained expression.

"I'm so sorry Spin, you're in pain, I knew that I just…" She touched her forehead becoming upset.

"Shh," he raised his hand to her arm that was trying to hold up her face that was still mortified that she had hurt him even if it was unintentional.

Holding her hand he kissed it before looking up at her and softly accepting the apology she never needed to make, "All is forgiven."

She looked away feeling unworthy of his noble gestures.

"Maxie look at me," he begged of her hoping that by speaking her name in a somewhat serious tone that she would look at him and be able to let the moment pass them by.

She reluctantly looked at him, "I'm sorry," she found herself crying, "You're in pain because of me because I didn't listen."

"Shhh…" He calmly shushed her, kissing her hand becoming too tired to really discuss them or the shooting or why it occurred, all he wanted, all he knew she wanted was to feel close to him and the only way he could give her some of the same stability, strength and security from the night they slept together was to have her sleep next to him.

Looking up into her eyes that were glistening he felt himself unnerved, bothered, upset to see her this way, "Come here." He pulled her closer to him, "Get comfortable blonde one." He patted the sheets.

"But," she looked at him like this wasn't hospital policy.

He didn't want to explain, he found himself on the brink of wanting to pass out a deep sleep, but he couldn't do that until her knew she was okay, "I know I scared you, but the only way I can think of making you feel better is to have you here, next to me where the Jackal can hold you."

Without a fuss she put herself under the covers feeling his left arm wrap around her waist where she instantly grabbed hold of his hand and buried her faced onto his left shoulder. Her fingers interlaced with his on her stomach, she tenderly kissed his neck where as soon as she rested her head on his chest, he glanced down at her, noting the way she held on to him and then kissed her forehead, "You're going to be okay." He hugged her close to him slowly drifting back to sleep while she looked down at their hands and whispered, "Because I have you."

* * *

So I think I'm definitely going to keep going, I'm not sure what the next chapter shoulder be. Do you guys want to see him and Maxie have scenes in the hospital, get some Jaspin, LeySpin scenes? Or should we skip to Maxie taking care of him at her place? Like fast forward a few days. Hmm. Need some ideas. Anyway I hope you guys are enjoying the story, review! And thanks a bunch for the support. I'll try to have an update soon.

Review!


	9. We'll get through it together

A/N: Okay here's my update! Hope you all enjoy. Oh and there's a line in here from the new batman movie, it's not copied word for word, but the idea is there. Lol and I just remembered part of the story here makes a few references to GH: Night shift season 1, so hopefully you've seen the show and if not then just ignore the dialogue, there's no plot purpose to it, just a little humor.

Chapter 9

Leyla Mir walked down the hall making her normal rounds, which today included Damian Spinelli. She stopped just as the window to his room came into sight and she stared not at the woman who was sleeping soundly on his bed, but at the man who was awake, the man who was stroking the woman's blonde hair, the man who was admiring the woman beside him. Even though nurse Mir had only attended a wedding with him, seen his dashing Aussie accent at the Haunted Star and had taken care of him in the hospital once before, followed up by a few conversations at the penthouse, Leyla found herself jealous. Jealous that he was in love with another woman, jealous that this woman had him wrapped around her little finger and only yesterday realized what had been in front of her for months when it only took Leyla two weeks.

"Nurse Mir, those charts aren't going to fill out themselves," Epiphany eyed her as she walked by.

"Right," Leyla nodded and walked to the door of his room grabbing the folder and quietly opening the door.

Spinelli looked up at her smiling before looking down at Maxie and whispering, "Maximista is sleeping."

She nodded like she wouldn't make any noise while looking over the machines that were monitoring him.

He watched as she stood next to him quietly taking notes and he realized that he had perhaps been insensitive not properly greeting her, "Good morning lovely Leyla."

"Good morning Mr. Spinelli," she whispered back casually looking at him, not at all leading on that she too was worried for him last night.

"How is the Jackal doing?" Spinelli asked as his hand continued to stroke Maxie's blonde curls.

"He's doing well for being shot twice, but Dr. Julian and Dr. Bayard would know more, I'm just a nurse," she sweetly smiled turning away from him.

"A smart nurse," he corrected her, bothered by the way she put herself down, even at the wedding she depicted herself this way.

"Well," she rolled her eyes, "Take if from this smart nurse that you are lucky to be alive."

Spinelli nodded like no one had to tell him, he honestly thought the burning sensation in his chest was the last strike in his physical wellbeing.

She finished writing down numbers and then closed the folder and turned to Spinelli, "You had a lot of people scared last night."

He frowned at her words, he never wanted people to worry about him, he never wanted people to waste their emotions on someone like him.

She wandered her eyes to Maxie insisting that she had primarily been the one that was scared for him last night, but he reacted as if he already knew, "And you already know." She felt silly, she wondered if he'd be able to see her crush on him, but just like the conversation they had two weeks ago about the "perfect guy" he had no idea that she liked him.

"The Jackal appreciates your observation," he smiled to let her know her efforts had not gone to waste.

"Mr. Morgan, Ms. McCall and Nadine and I were also worried for you," she didn't want to forget to mention them, especially Jason and Sam who were like parents to him.

Spinelli nodded, "I'll be sure to thank them…"

Leyla nodded almost expecting him to thank her, but when he didn't, she turned away and walked to the door when he softly called her name, "Leyla?"

She glanced up at him, her hand motioning away from the doorknob, "Yeah?"

"Thank you," he sincerely looked at her, "Thank you for being worried about the Jackal."

She unknowingly blushed hugging the folder, "Not a problem Spinelli I mean you did punch a guy out for me."

"And I would surely do it again for Fair Leyla who did not deserve such unkind words thrown at her in such a poor manner," he smiled still proud that he stood up for what was right.

She sweetly smiled at him, "Well it's sill one of the kindest things someone has ever done for me."

He took her words to heart not really sure of what to say in return, but she saved him the trouble of making small talk and ended the silence, "I'll tell the doctors you're awake, they should be in here momentarily."

Spinelli watched as she left the room and then looked down at the angelic figure sleeping next to him. She looked so peaceful he really didn't want anyone interrupting at least not for a couple hours for she looked so tired, it made his heart break at the kind of stress she might have put on herself while he was hanging on for dear life. He instinctively stopped stroking her blonde curls and slid his arm around her body where he rested his hand on top of hers that was lying on her stomach. Interlacing his fingers with hers he leaned into kiss her forehead where he saw a smile form in the corner of her mouth.

She warmly smiled trying to resist the urge to open her eyes, but of course couldn't, "Hey."

He welcomed her with a smile wishing her could use his other arm to fully hug her, but every time he even attempted he tried to do so during the night left him in a throbbing pain that took many long minutes to settle down.

She cupped his opposite cheek to her, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better now that the Maximista is awake and looking ever so beautiful in her favorite color of scrubs," he grinned as she rolled her eyes like 'these old things'.

"I think the drugs are starting to kick in," she joked and he rolled her eyes like 'perhaps'.

"Seriously Spinelli," she sat up on the bed and turned to him with her hand in his, "How are you really feeling?"

He raised his hand from hers to touch her cheek, "How the Jackal feels should be no concern to you at this moment."

"Spinelli," she glared at him like of course she needed to be concerned.

"Maximista," he looked at her not to press the issue, "The jackal is feeling what is to be expected that is all you need to know."

She wiped a tear from her eye taking his hand off her cheek, "Spinelli you don't have to do this. You can tell me if you're in pain, I won't think you're weak or anything."

"The only thing that pains the Jackal is seeing his blonde one upset," he took her hand and rubbed his thumb over it.

"Spinelli," she slowly nodded her head in disbelief at the way he delicately touched her, it only brought tears to her eyes.

"Maximista," he followed her gaze that was set on their hands, "I'm okay. I know that maybe hard to believe because I can't hug you," he began to feel bad that he couldn't be the man she expected him to be, "Or hold you," he looked away feeling ashamed even though he knew he didn't need to be.

She could see his pride was hurting, "Spinelli."

He glanced back at their hands, but not at her, "…or comfort you in my usual ways, but."

"But," she interrupted him placing her hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her, "You did."

He glanced at her not believing like he had, not believing he'd be able to be himself for a few weeks, "Max…"

"Spinelli," she ran her fingers through his hair, "You found a way, you found a way to make me feel like everything was going to be okay," she brought her hand back to his cheek, "I don't know how, but you did." She bit her trembling lip as tears seem to build up in her eyes, "And you still are." She gently put her other hand on his cheek, "You still are and I'm pretty sure you'll always be able to make me feel that way." She leaned in not knowing what this force was that compelled her to pull herself closer to him.

"Hey Spin," Jason opened the door with his smile slightly crooked thinking back to his couch.

Spinelli looked away from Maxie who was just about to kiss him, "Stone Cold."

"Um I'll come back later," he backed away to the door feeling extremely awkward.

"No Jason," Maxie annoying rolled her eyes at the timing, "Stay," she turned away from Spinelli to Jason.

"Are you sure, cause I can come back," Jason looked at Maxie wondering if she had been right in the middle of telling Spinelli something important.

"It's fine," she glanced back at Spinelli before getting off the bed and taking a seat next to his bedside with her hand still holding his.

"Well I won't be long," he stood near the door, "But I brought someone that we haven't seen for a while," Jason grinned knowing Spinelli would like this surprise, "Since our Night Shift days."

Spinelli looked at him intrigued, "Stone Cold you're not talking about the Angel of Mercy Jolene are you?"

Jason looked at him wondering why he would bring someone who killed patients, "Um no." He nodded at Spinelli's obliviousness and turned to the door, "Come in."

Maxie looked at Spinelli wondering about his Night Shift adventures, it sounded like another story that she wished she had been there to see.

"Aw no way," Spinelli smiled at Toussaint Dubois, the janitor that was also the lead singer of The Saints, "Wise One."

"Hey man," Toussaint walked towards him with his hands in his suit acting like his usual classy self.

"To what do I owe this visit?" Spinelli smiled back in amazement.

"Well you visited me when I had my brain surgery and I would have died if it weren't for you and Jason here," Toussaint smiled as he glanced back at Jason.

"Well it was all Stone Cold," Spinelli pointed at Jason.

Jason crossed his arms in a playful disagreement, "I just found her outside his room, it was you that proved she was working for Medcam. You got justice for everyone that died here."

Now Maxie really wanted to the know the scoop, "Um excuse me but who are you?"

Toussaint looked at her and then back at Spinelli, "Man you always have the prettiest girls with you."

Maxie goofily grinned at Spinelli wondering what other woman Spinelli always had around him.

"Doesn't he?" Toussaint turned to Jason, "All the nurses, the girl you kept calling blonde one, there's you and…" He started counting his fingers, "What's that like ten gals?"

Jason laughed, "I know, I should be coming to him for advice," he laughed.

"Ha ha," Spinelli joked, "Um Maximista, this is Toussaint Dubois the wise one and also the lead singer of The Saints."

Maxie looked at the man, impressed that he was in a band, impressed that Spinelli knew him, "Nice to meet you," she shook his hand.

"Likewise," he paused before remembering where he recognized her, "Hand cuff girl."

Maxie oddly glared at him for no one had called her that since last summer when she and Cooper had been caught in the supply closet having sex only Maxie was handcuffed, "Um…"

Toussaint glanced at Spinelli in disbelief, "You've got hand cuff girl?"

Spinelli slowly nodded only he had no idea what his wise friend was talking about and neither did Jason, but they all stared back at Maxie wondering what exactly was behind the title.

"Yeah I guess he got me," Maxie nervously smiled with a chuckle.

"Oh I'm sorry," Toussaint realized he had put her in an awkward position so to make up for it he kissed her hand, "My apologies." He winked her at her before letting go of her hand and glancing at Spinelli, "She's nice. You got yourself a good girl here, not one whose going to kill you." He grinned glancing at Jason.

"Well the Jackal doubts the Falsely Fair Jolene would have killed him, she saved my life if you don't remember," he looked at the two men who were still skeptical about the girl's off key behavior.

Toussaint turned to Jason, "That's our typical Spinelli, seeing the good in a person that tried to kill me."

"Uh hum," Epiphany walked through the door, "Mr. Spinelli is allowed one visitor at a time."

Toussaint looked at Epiphany to relax, "We're just talkin'."

"Well Mr. Spinelli shouldn't even be talking," she looked at Spinelli who nervously smiled.

Dr. Julian knocked on the door as he stood in the doorway, "Okay why is there a circus in my patient's room?"

"Um we were just leaving," Jason looked at Toussaint.

"Yeah," he looked back at Spinelli, "Hey I'm doing a show here in a couple weeks with Eli Love, I'll send you some tickets."

"Why thank you wise one," Spinelli grinned completely surprised.

"No problem," Toussaint walked out the room with Jason, waving goodbye to them.

Dr. Julian walked into the room looking back at the door that Leyla closed behind her, "Mr. Spinelli, I see you're awake." He glanced at Maxie, "How are we doing this morning?"

"Good doctor," Maxie smiled glancing back at Spinelli, squeezing his hand with a little excitement.

"Well that's what the tests say. Mr. Spinelli as you might already know, you are a lucky, lucky man." Leo wanted to say the word over and over again for he was still in disbelief that the man before him was alive, breathing, and talking as if he had not just come close to dying.

"I do," Spinelli slightly nodded.

Dr. Julian looked down at the charts, "Okay let's get down to business," he looked up from the chart, "You're responding very well to the blood transfusions we gave you during surgery which went as well as expected." He looked down at the charts and walked further into the room, "We expect you to make a full recovery in that area."

"In that area?" Spinelli looked down at his hand that Maxie was tightly held onto, "Um…" He glanced up at Maxie and then Dr. Julian, "But what do you mean?" He stuttered, "Are you saying that the Jackal's arm may never be as it used to be?"

"Um Mr. Spinelli," he looked up from his charts, "I'm sorry, but that's the case."

"But," Maxie looked away from his crushed horrified face, "But you said that…"

"But the results came back," he raised his voice, "And Mr. Spinelli, we know for sure now that you will never have full use of your arm, even with physical therapy you'll only recover 90 use of it, maybe 95."

It was as if someone told him he could never hack another computer, it was like asking him not to breathe, his talent would be no more.

"When you came into the hospital our number one priority was repairing the artery, based on these results it wouldn't have mattered if we acted first with the shoulder," he looked down at the chart, "From what the police say you shot three men?"

Spinelli nodded, "Yeah with," he looked at his arm that he couldn't move, "With the shoulder I can't move..." He realized now what had happened.

"And we believe that behavior caused the bulled to slide into the position it did which severely damaged the chord," he paused letting the explanation settle in.

Spinelli slowly nodded concluding the same thing, "So…" He slowly looked at Dr. Julian, "What you're saying is I'm going to be in pain for the rest of my life?"

"The wound will heal, but the muscle when in it contracts will extract pain at times, sometimes you won't feel anything and other times you'll be in severe pain," he hated telling the boy news that would obviously affect his work for Jason, "So in a way yes."

He slowly motioned his hand away from hers where she instantly looked at him and saw his face that made her heart break. She instantly reached out to him, touching his bicep, rubbing her hand along it, knowing he was devastated, but instead of him embracing her he coldly wouldn't look at her. He ignored the sympathetic words that she uttered. He wiped his hand through his messy hair that he knew she'd fix once they left the room. He glared up at the ceiling trying to hold in his frustration. He loved his life's work; he wasn't the Jackal without two working hands ferociously typing to reveal secrets that made him the most lethal hacker of them all. He closed his eyes wondering how long it would take before he wished he died a hero instead of living to see him turn into the villain.

"Leo," Maxie looked away from Spinelli who was slowly pulling himself together, "When can he start physical therapy?"

"Maybe in three days, the amount of pain he's going to be into is going to have a tremendous amount of stress on his heart," he looked back down at his notes, "Mr. Morgan has hired you a physical therapy assistant."

"Oh that won't be necessary," Maxie interrupted, "I can help Spinelli with his coach."

"Um," Dr. Julian didn't know how to let her down gently, so Epiphany did it for him.

"We recommend that friends and family don't get involved in the physical therapy process for it makes patients more aggressive and often times harder to concentrate," Epiphany was definitely using her bedside manner today for that was the least of it, physical therapy patients no matter what the injury the pain is all the same, the person they become is unrecognizable whether the temper lasts five minutes, a year or a decade, it's there and their soul hardly ever returns.

"I agree with Epiphany," Dr. Julian said as he closed the binder, "Unless Mr. Spinelli wants your help, I suggest that the person Mr. Morgan hired which happens to be in this room, Leyla," he glanced at her with a smile, "Should help him."

"We're going to get back on track in no time," Leyla found herself stupidly cheering him on.

Spinelli smiled trying to show he was happy to have her and Maxie there to support him, but he found himself just wanting to be alone.

"Besides that Mr. Spinelli we expect you out of the hospital in ten days give or take," he looked down at his chart to make sure he had gone over everything, "As for right now all that I recommend is sleep, lots of water," he paused looking at the notes written by Mr. Morgan and then nodded disapprovingly, "Yeah um no orange soda or barbeque chips." Maxie and Leyla glanced at Spinelli like they'd find a way to sneak in his favorites, he smiled sure it would be nice to have the one thing that brought a smile to his face besides his favorite girls, but to be honest he could care less it was the least of his concern at the moment.

"Something else I'd also like to mention is that you were very dehydrated when they brought you in, exhausted and certain symptoms you had weren't because of your injuries, I suggest when you return to work for Mr. Morgan that you get more rest so that if this ever occurs again you won't be on the edge of death."

"As for visitors," Dr. Julian looked at Maxie, "I want to say none right now," he saw Maxie's 'say what' face, "That is in the morning. I think it's best you get some sleep and perhaps everyone can come back and take turns later in the afternoon," he said goodbye and motioned Epiphany to leave the room with him along with Leyla.

"Spinelli," Maxie turned to him, who was just sitting there, saddened by the news, "Doctors are wrong all the time, they were wrong about you last night, they're wrong about you now."

"And what if they're not?" He raised his voice wiping his hand through his hair, "The Jackal will no longer be the Assassin of the internet, he will no longer be Stone Cold's wing man, and…" He looked at her; he'd no longer be the man she needed. He felt like he was about to lose everything.

"Spinelli, I meant what I said," she stopped him from looking away from her cupping his cheek, "I'm going to take care of you." She stoked his cheek, "I'm going to be here every step of the way."

"No," he looked away from her. He would have never thought he'd turn her away for help, but as he stared at his shoulder as he glared at his hand at the fingers that twitched with agony, he didn't dare want to test her loyalty. As much as he wanted to be believe that she would come through for him after all the times he had been there for her, he couldn't, he couldn't put faith in her, he couldn't trust her and that, that made him feel guilty for she had done nothing to make him question their relationship.

She watched as he eyed the right side of his body in disgust that he couldn't even move his fingers without clenching his jaw, it brought tears to her eyes, such a good man was about to crumble.

Her hand on his cheek gently attempted to bring his attention to her, but he wouldn't look at her, "Spinelli, look at me."

He reluctantly looked at her where she tenderly ran her thumb over his cheek rewarding him, "I'm not going to let you push me away, especially when you need me the most."

She looked down taking his hand in hers where as she pressed his palm against her cheek, she closed her eyes for a brief second.

Gaining the strength she needed she opened her eyes to look directly into his, "Even when you are begging me and yelling at me to leave because it hurts too much," she kissed his hand, "I will be here."

His lip trembled, "Even if I turn into Dr. Hyde?"

She hiccupped a laugh having a vivid idea of who that was, "Yes, even if you turn into Dr. Hyde because on the outside of your frustrations and anger, I know that in the inside lies a sweet, kind, gentle man who would never hurt me."

She tenderly kissed his forehead before sitting on his bed, holding his hand while her other cupped his cheek and looked right into his icy cold eyes that were melting, "I'm going to be the force that keeps you from giving up."

He nodded as he felt his eyelashes set off a few tears of fear that ran down his cheeks and over his lips, "I'm…"

"Shh, I know," she leaned in pressing her dry lips against his that were moist from his warm tears.

She eased out leaning her forehead against his, "I'm scared too." She looked up into his fierce eyes waiting for her to finish igniting the passion that sparked every time they were in the same room, "But like you said," she put her hands on his cheeks leaning in to steal another kiss, "We'll get through it together." She kissed him once more with passion from the night their bodies came together as one colliding their insecurities about what the future held for them.

--

Next chapter I think will start off from here, I wanted to get in a jaspin and Samspin scene and possible another spixie scene before I fast forward the story a couple days which will probably end up being Spinelli' first day of physical therapy which might end up being series of scenes from multiple days. Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, I wasn't sure about adding the kisses at the end, but figured it was a nice way to end it.

Thanks for reading and review!


	10. Visitors

A/N: Okay this is my update. It's a little long, lol. Longer than I thought it would be, but enjoy!

Chapter 10

"Dr. Julian!" Jason shouted as he walked past him not at all stopping to explain Spinelli's condition.

"Oh I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan," Leo turned to him, "How can I help you?"

"Well um Spinelli, is he going to be okay?" He thought Dr. Julian knew he was going to ask him this, but the doctor just seem flustered.

"Yes," Leo nodded, "His artery will make a full recovery, but I'm afraid I can't say the same for his arm."

"What do you mean?" Jason looked at him concern.

"I mean the bullet tore the rotator cuff tendon completely, now I'm not a arthroscopic surgeon, Dr. Bayard is and he'll be in with Spinelli later to explain more specifically his condition, I just touched based on his notes, but the rotator cuff is connected to many muscles in the arm, the neck and the spine. Some patients take six months to recover full range of use," he explained as best he could.

Jason put his hands on his hips, "But…"

"Mr. Morgan I really don't have time to chat about this, you'll have to talk to Dr. Bayard." Dr. Leo walked away from a distraught Jason who felt like he had just been punched in the gut.

He turned away from the doctor's direction where he saw Claudia Zacchara walking towards him, "Jason…" She smiled, but he frowned.

"Is it that bad?" Claudia asked in concern.

"Is it that bad?" He mocked her, "Yes! He almost died last night and from what he just told me Spinelli might never fully recover."

"We'll pay for everything," Claudia immediately suggested but Jason nodded no, "I'm taking care of it."

"Jason I'm sorry," she crossed her arms, "I'm sorry, but I fixed things didn't I?" She implied her father's death.

Jason eyed her like she just didn't get it, "And that's supposed to make it better? You cost this kid his happiness, he'll never be the same Claudia! Do you understand that?"

"Jason I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say," she looked at him wanting a little compassion, it's not like she wanted Spinelli to get hurt.

"Maybe a simple truce would be nice and once I'm through getting Johnny and Lulu out of lock up, believe me you will never touch my business again and if you do," he leaned in wanting to make his words extremely clear, "So help me I will kill him and I'll make you watch before I kill you."

She could tell his threat was definitely genuine, "I promise you Jase, you'll never have any trouble from the Zacchara family ever again."

"I better not," he looked away from Claudia trying to calm himself down, "He's not allowed any visitors until this afternoon so if you want to apologize for the world of pain he's about to go through you'll have to do it later."

Claudia nodded with tears in her eyes, "Okay."

"I really am sorry and if there's anything I can do for him, please let me know," she hesitantly touched his shoulder trying to sympathize with his loss.

He reluctantly looked into her eyes, "Tha-thank you."

"Of course," she frowned before turning away from him and walking to main floor where she entered the elevator and took out her phone, "Yes, we need to dissolve this issue right now Trevor…I don't care what you're doing, I want to fix this before it can potentially hurt us."

-

Maxie rested her cheek against his after the kiss they shared proved to be too intoxicating for her to continue, "Spinelli…" She wanted to convince him to let her stay, to ignore what the doctors say, she could be of use to him.

"The Jackal will be alright by himself," he began to rub his hand along her back, a gentle soothe that he knew would help her over come her possessive emotions.

"Spinelli I'll just sit, I'll watch you fall asleep, I'll…" She stopped as she felt his hand come up over her shoulder, his thumb rubbing her neck, "Please Maximista."

She loosened up her shoulders in disappointment where she wiped a tear from her eye, "I just…"

"You're not going to miss anything believe me," he insisted before realizing that maybe the only way to get her to leave was to suggest she go and get something for him, "You want to help me?"

She glanced up at him, "Anything…" Her hands grasped his arms, both of them by accident.

He cringed with a smile on his face as she instantly took her hand off his arm and apologized, "Spinelli I'm sorry, I had a blonde moment and forgot."

He laughed as he felt the pain arch up into his shoulder, "Now you owe me." He gently wrapped his fingers around her neck a brought her closer to him, "Now you must bring the Jackal nectar of the gods."

She smiled that he wasn't angry, she was thankful that he turned the moment into light hearted humor, "And would you like barbeque chips with that?"

His hazy smile gave the answer away, "Alright Mr. Jackal." She teased his lips as she moved passed them to whisper into his ear, "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Hmmm," he playfully moaned, "Well…" He smiled at how clever his idea was.

She leaned away from his ear seeing his grin like he was up to something, "Spinelli…"

"Could you please…" He raised his hand to his cheek, "Right here…"

She goofily laughed, "I suppose," she kissed his cheek.

"And right here," he pointed to his forehead.

She nodded in playful disbelief, he was going to milk this for everything it was worth, she kissed his forehead, "Anywhere else I can kiss the pain away?"

"Um yes," he looked up into her eyes and pulled her into a kiss.

Now she definitely didn't want to leave him, spontaneous Spinelli was driving her hormones up the wall, "Spin…" She couldn't finish the other syllable without his lips piercing hers, "Sp…" She tried to shout how surprised she was but his lips were like suction cups, she couldn't pull away and to be honest, she didn't want to.

Running her fingers through his hair while her other hand cupped his cheek she kissed him back with her body pressed up against the left side of his chest. Entangled in his lips she wrapped her arms around his neck feeling the heat of both their bodies hot for each other.

"Spinelli I…" Jason stood in the doorway, _damn it! Not again!_

Maxie sighed in annoyance turning to him, "Jason can't you just knock on the door before you come in?"

His eyes looked horrified, no one had ever told him to knock on the door, but he realized if he did that then these awkward interruptions like this would stop occurring, "Uh yeah." He quickly closed the door feeling like an idiot, "I need to go to work, I need to forget what I just saw, I need nectar of the gods…" He paused wondering why he was so flustered, speaking Spinelli was just another sign that he needed to get out of here.

Maxie couldn't help but laugh, "Did you see the look on his face?"

"Yes the Jackal believes we might have disturbed the master," he glanced away from the door to her face that was still fixated on the door.

"I'll say I think he's finally going to start locking his own door," she turned to him where she saw him grinning, "What are you so happy about?"

"Oh well, just that in six hours I'm going to wake up to a dazzling bottle of the greatest beverage ever made and the tastiest snack the Jackal has ever set eyes on."

"Well," she gently got off the bed grabbing her purse, "I will try to be back as soon as possible with orange soda and barbeque chips."

"Who said I was talking about barbeque chips?" He playfully teased her raising his eyebrows.

"Spinelli if you haven't noticed I'm trying to leave and when you say things like that it makes it impossible…"

"For what?" He pondered her thoughts reaching for her hand and then pulling her towards him, "It makes it impossible for the blonde one to what…"

She evilly eyed him, "I'm not playing into this Spinelli." She laughed as he continued to pull her towards him.

"Oh, alright," he teased her with a playful grin on her face before pulling her into a kiss.

"Spin…" She stomped her foot on the ground as she found herself unable to resist him.

He leaned away from her seeing he had flustered her, he proudly smiled at himself, the confidence he had after they together that one evening a week ago, was back.

She put her fingers over her mouth, trying to pull herself together while feeling giddy at the same time, he had no kidding rocked her world, "Spin-elli."

He happily grinned with a laugh, "There is something that the Jackal would really like you to do."

She looked up at him dropping her hand from lips, "Yeah?"

"The handicapped patient would very much appreciate it if you visited the fugitive ones and updated them on my condition," he knew that might be a touchy subject, but he wanted Lulu and even Johnny to know that he was okay whether they cared or not.

"Spinelli," she sighed definitely having a problem with this.

"Please if you have time after you've checked in with the Fashionista, could you just tell the blonde one that the Jackal is okay and for her not to blame herself," he could see she was about to explode for Lulu and Johnny were to blame for this.

"I'll make it worth your wild," he teased her.

"And how are you going to do that, you're in a hospital bed and let me remind you that you have no use of your other arm," she didn't mean to bring up bad news, but it went along with their back and forth tug of war sarcasm game.

"The Jackal is used to thinking outside of the box for his blonde one," he insisted that he had to approach situations differently with her which she got the implication that it meant she was high maintenance.

"Hey," she glared at him.

"Maximista," he smiled to imply that he didn't mean anything by his words, "Please do what the Jackal asks of you."

"Okay Spinelli I'll tell that twit you're going to be fine," she sighed with an ongoing grunt.

"Thank you, now go and be the brilliant assistant to the fashionista."

"Alright," she tenderly touched his hand and then leaned into kiss his cheek.

Standing at his bedside now, "Get better and don't push yourself." She looked at him not wanting to leave his side, "Are you sure…"

"Yes," he persisted, "Maximista the Jackal will be fine without your presence for a few hours." He sincerely smiled for her to leave, giving her the okay.

"Fine," she rolled her eyes, "I'll see you later…" She hesitantly let go of his hand and walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

Spinelli watched as she walked passed the window and left his sight. He quietly sighed as he glanced at his fingers that he tried to move, but pain shot up through his arm to his shoulder and he looked away at his other hand balled into a fist trying to contain the rage that he wanted to scream, "The Jackal will be fine.

-

Kate walked out of her office with Clarice when they heard the ding, "Clarice are we expecting Mr. Jacks?"

"Um no," she looked at Kate where they both looked at the elevator doors that opened.

"Hey guys," Maxie smiled walking onto the floor with jeans and a black blouse on.

Kate grinned, "Clarice why don't you get me this months numbers for the magazine."

"Alright!" Clarice pretended to be her usual self.

"Wow she's perky this morning," Maxie slightly laughed as she walked to her desk, "Oh shoot," she turned around to Kate, "I'll be right back with your coffee."

"No Maxie," Kate kindly smiled, "That's okay." She walked over to Maxie placing her hand gently on her back, "Why don't you come with me into my office."

Maxie nervously looked up at her wondering if she was about to get fired so she thought if she made a last minute confession that maybe she'd save her job, "I deleted the email to make Lulu look bad."

Kate laughed, "Oh Maxie I know you did. Sometimes you have to get messy, but I'm not firing you come on." She walked away from her to open the doors to her office where she took a seat at her desk.

"Maxie sit down," she motioned her to take a seat.

"Um," Maxie nervously walked further into the office, "If you're not firing me then…"

"Maxie, stop worrying, just sit down," Kate looked away from her to the papers on her desk, straightening up the area.

"Okay," Maxie sat down, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Good question," Kate finished up with her desk and looked up at her.

Maxie looked at her confused, "Um I don't understand."

"Neither do I frankly," Kate looked at her very serious.

Maxie continued to stare at her clueless as to what issue Kate was dancing around about.

"Maxie," Kate scooted her chair in and then crossed her arms on her desk, "Hun, what are you doing here?"

"Um I work here at least I thought I did," she looked at her swearing that Kate just told her she wasn't about to get fired.

"You do Maxie, I said I wasn't firing you and I'm not." She sighed at the where the conversation was going, "I guess I'm not making myself clear. Maxie, you were almost killed yesterday and your very dear friend Mr. Spinelli is in the hospital so my question is why are you here?"

"Um well," Maxie sighed at having to explain, "The doctors won't allow him to see visitors until 3pm and he doesn't want me hanging around the hospital, he got some bad news and…"

"Is he going to be okay?" Kate asked in immediate concern for the man had always been very polite, helpful and kind to her.

"Yeah," she spoke with enthusiasm, "He's going to be fine, it's just his shoulder they're worried about, the doctors say he'll never make a full recovery that he'll be in pain for the rest of his life and he's just devastated by the news."

"Oh," Kate frowned, "Well Maxie if you ever need to take any days off, you've earned them so."

"Well how about I make you a deal?" Maxie smiled and Kate of course was intrigued.

"Spinelli is going to be in the hospital for about another two weeks so what if I work my usual hours seven to four except for when I need to leave for his physical therapy and then when he gets released I'll take a few days off and…"

"And," Kate grinned folding her hands together, "Sounds like a thought out plan, you're taking care of Spinelli I presume?"

"Yeah," she slowly nodded yes, "He saved my life, it's the least I can do." She looked away from Kate thinking of the bullets that flew past her yesterday, "He was so brave Kate," she looked up at her with unexpected tears in her eyes, "He was bleeding in my arms, barely breathing and yet he never gave up," Maxie looked at Kate like she didn't understand where his determination came from, "He should have died and he lived."

Kate gently got up from her desk and grabbed the box of tissues where she held them out in front her, "I'm sorry you went through that."

Maxie grabbed a Kleenex where Kate joined her in the chair nearby, not at all minding to give up a few minutes of her time.

"I see him in the hospital and today is just the beginning Kate, he is in so much pain and he is so afraid to hurt me, he's terrified and I…I don't know how to make it better." She looked up at Kate who acted as if she had gone through something like this before.

"Sometimes you can't make it better," she set the Kleenex's on the desk, "Sometimes you'll never be able to make it better no matter how hard you try."

"How do you know?" Maxie looked up at her wondering where this advice was coming from.

"People change Maxie, I think you know that better than anyone, people change in great tragedies, they either become the person they always wanted to be or they become the person they swore they would never become." She sighed, it wasn't a good idea for her to bring up the past she realized.

"Maxie take as much time as you need, maybe by the time you have to leave, Lulu will decide she doesn't want to be a fugitive anymore."

Maxie looked at her defensively, "She's not a fugitive, Johnny kidnapped her."

Kate looked at her like the gig was up, "Maxie you don't have to cover for her, I'll hire someone else, someone who is like you."

Maxie laughed, "And then I'll have to work extra hard to make them look bad so I can keep my job."

"Well," Kate laughed, "So you're saying that Lulu is the innocent one in all this?" Kate looked at her to be honest.

Lulu would owe her big time, "Yes, she's innocent."

"Well then," Kate found it funny that Maxie was defending her. "If you don't mind working for a few hours there are definitely things to do."

"Please, work would give me something to take me mind off," it sounded bad, but this thing with Spinelli was stressing her out.

"Alright," she got up from her chair, "I'm going out for a bit, Clarice will give you a list of things that need to be done."

Maxie got up from her chair taking a deep sigh, "Thanks for that, I know you said keep our personal lives separate but…"

"Maxie, it's okay to show a little compassion once and a while in this field," she softly smile, "If I was kind to you all the time then you wouldn't respect me."

"Oh you're wrong, I'd still respect you and work my butt off because I need this job, this and Spinelli are probably the best things that have ever happened to me since my sister and boy friend died."

"Well I see something great in you Maxie, expect to be working here for a long time," Kate motioned to hug her, "And if you ever need to talk, I don't mind a few minutes here and there."

Perhaps Kate befriended her because she didn't have a female role model in her life, but something within her told her it was because she could relate to Maxie's young age that was filled with drama, sure Kate had been much younger, but she saw herself in Maxie and never wanted her nor any other young girl to go through what she did.

-

Sam walked onto the floor of the hospital with a bag in her hand where she saw Elizabeth standing at the nurse's station, "Elizabeth…"

"Hey, are you looking for Lucky?" Elizabeth poked her nose into the public break up Sam had with her ex just a few days ago.

"Um no, I'm here for Spinelli, can he see any visitors?" Sam had a pile of newspapers that she wanted to excite him about.

"Let me check," she looked at his chart, "Hmm it's 2pm, he's not supposed to have visitors till 3, but Epiphany and Dr. Ford aren't around, so I'll let you sneak in."

"Really?" Sam asked surprised, lately she and Elizabeth had found a way to coexist through all the lies and heartaches brought on between the four of them.

"Yeah," she looked around and then stepped off the nurse's station and walked her to the room, "He might be sleeping."

"Well I'll just slip these in and he'll never know I was here," she grinned as they walked down the hall where they saw that he was watching TV in the dark.

"Spinelli," Elizabeth opened the door, "Sam is here to visit you."

"But it's only…"

"It'll be our little secret," Elizabeth winked at him turning the light on.

"Alright," he grinned, finally someone to talk to.

"Hey," Sam walked in closing the door behind her, "How are you?"

"Eh, the jackal is doing as well as expected." He yawned for he was still tired after almost sleeping for the past five hours.

"I won't be here long," she walked towards him showing her bag as she stopped at his bedside.

She sat down in one of the chairs near his bedside and then took out the newspapers, "I wanted you to have something for your scrap book." She placed them on his lap.

"You're a hero Spinelli," she pointed to the headlines, "Port Charles Herald is especially holding you responsible for Anthony Zacchara's death."

"The…The Brutal Mob boss is dead?" Spinelli looked at her confused and then back at the headline.

"Yup, they said that with his son's impending conviction and his men being revealed to be the ones that came after you and Maxie, they said he felt guilty and killed himself." She didn't care how the newspapers or the police or how anyone wanted to spin it, he was dead and the town was better for it.

"Wow," he looked up at Sam.

"I know," she grinned, "Spinelli you saved Maxie's life and you killed three professionally trained killers, Spin you are a stud!" She gave him a high five.

He high fived her, "Well." He sighed in doubt with a smile, "I don't know about a stud, but Maximista and I are…"

"Together?" She interrupted with a squeal of excitement.

"Um, no," he actually didn't know, "I mean the Jackal and Maximista have shared many intimate kisses and she slept next to me last night and…"

"But…" Sam lingered to every word of his trying to detect a problem.

"But I think she's just scared, you know, like she was when she and I slept together," he bit his lip thinking that all this might be more things she'd regret later.

"Whoa, hold up," Sam looked at him wondering when this happened, "You and Maxie…" Sam made a gesture with her fingers, "Got together?"

"Yes." He smiled proudly even if Maxie regretted it, he never would.

"Are you sure?" She remembered him coming to her and him rambling about 'six times'.

"Uh the Jackal would definitely remember sex with the blonde one," he giddily grinned, "And seeing that the mob boss is dead and you're a trusted friend," he figured he could somewhat explain what happened, "Well Maximista was scared one evening because the brutal mob boss believed she had something to do with the death of the unhinged one and the wanted ones and so she was scared and…"

"She came to you for comfort and…" _One thing led to another and you two hooked up_, this wasn't that hard to figure out.

"Yes," Spinelli caught on to her hints, "but…"

"But you thought it meant that the two of you were going to be together?" When she saw his expression she couldn't help, but feel for the guy. He finally got the girl, but for one evening, a few hours, poor guy.

"Yes and later she told me that she regretted it and that she didn't want to hurt the friendship," he frowned beginning to feel that soon all of this would be another regret too.

"Oh well I definitely don't think that's the case," she grinned knowing what she was about to tell him would give him hope, "At least not anymore for last night Spinelli she was worried sick about you and when I say worried I mean like she might have finally realized something about you."

She didn't want to spoil it, she didn't want to say much of anything else just enough to prevent him from giving up hope.

"Really," Spinelli pointed to himself, "Something about mwah the Jackal?"

Sam nodded, "Yup."

"Wow," he sensed what she was heading towards, "I love the Maximista too."

"Well then you should tell her," she thought now was a better time then ever for Maxie would put all her energy and attention on him so she'd be less susceptible to interrupt him during his confession.

"I did I think I did," he put his hand to his head and closed his eyes.

"_Any last words?"_ He remembered the henchman saying as he drilled the gun into his head.

_Yes_, he remembered looking up into her blue eyes, blood dripping down his chin, sweat rolling down his face, not once blinking, completely fixated on her, smiling and saying the words he had wanted to say for weeks if not months, _"I love you."_

Sam watched his face change emotions as he explained what he could barely remember, "So she knows then."

Spinelli vaguely nodded, "I guess she does, but…but what bothers me I guess is that when I said it, I mean Samantha I was dying, the Jackal was on his last breaths of fresh air and she didn't say anything in return."

As he explained, Sam had an evil smile forming in the corner of her mouth, _oh Spinelli you'll find out soon enough._

"I mean I guess it would have been like a typical movie that Film Guy talks of," he was implying Dillon, "But I just thought…"

"Spinelli," Sam interrupted his thoughts, "Why don't you tell her again?"

He looked up at her, "I can't tell her now, here, in the hospital while I'm handicapped." He looked at his shoulder where he fell into a silence.

"They gave you bad news didn't they?" She could see it on his face, his once lit up face was no more.

"Yeah well," he looked away not wanting to get into it, the longer he dreaded the news the stronger the stinging feeling grew in his shoulder.

"Hey you'll get through it, doctors are wrong all the time," she had enough life experiences to tell her that sometimes doctors were literally idiots at times.

"That's what Maximista says, she told me she's going to be here everyday to help me through physical therapy, but…"

"But what?" She thought he'd be happy to have her company.

"Fair Samantha the Jackal is in a lot of pain, the drugs help for a bit and then well I just don't want to do something or say something that will turn her away from me." He frowned looking away from her to the bed sheets.

"Spinelli," Sam curled her lips in a frown, such a fragile young man.

He wandered his eyes to the newspaper, _Mobster saves Commissioner's Daughter._

"Mobster?" He chuckled, "I am not."

"Well you work for Jason so they assume," she smiled before joining him in a laugh.

He reached for another newspaper reading the headline, _Unlikely hero saves the day, _he looked at the pictures below from security footage, "The Jackal is going to need a copy of this video so he can remind himself of the man he used to be."

"Hey stop talking like that," Sam raised her voice, "You are going to leave here as the same man who entered."

He looked back down at the papers looking at another headline, _Hero says no to organized crime._

"I like this one," Spinelli softly smiled for it seemed the closest headline that reflected him in a positive light.

"Well, I'll leave you to yourself," Sam could see he wanted to be alone.

He nodded looking up from the article he was reading about himself, "Thank you Fair Samantha, this will surely pass the time by."

She sweetly smiled back at him, "Well I'm glad I could be of help." She waited for him to say something else, but he didn't, he looked back at the article and she let herself out of the room.

Walking down the hall she turned to the main floor where she saw Elizabeth talking with Cruz, "Sam…" Elizabeth turned to her, "How was he?"

"Well," she looked at Cruz, "If you're here to question him on the shooting, I think you need to give it a few days, he's not himself."

Cruz sighed, "So…"

"So I'm saying that he doesn't seem interested in talking with anyone," Sam somewhat snapped at him, "Your investigation can wait."

"Very well then," Cruz nodded at the two before walking back into the elevator where Elizabeth turned to her, "I know what you mean. Lucky was the same way after his accident."

"I just think he needs rest you know? And then I'm sure his mood will get better."

Elizabeth nodded, "Yeah, that's the key. I think if Lucky had rested more instead of rushing to get back to work, if he had just waited, well maybe he wouldn't have gotten addicted to the pain killers." She lightly sighed at how that event had changed her life, pushed her into Jason's arm, created a child and well now it was just a long painful history.

"Did the doctors say when Spinelli might start physical therapy?"

"Well Dr. Julian said three days, but I read Dr. Bayard's notes and it seems like his diagnosis has changed, so I'm thinking they're going to wait a week which makes a lot more sense."

"Yeah," Sam was relieved for three days just seemed crazy, "Well I've got to go babysit Molly and Kristina, Alexis has been up to here in work so…Thanks for letting me see him."

"No problem," she smiled.

Sam politely smiled before walking into the elevator hoping that what happened to Lucky wouldn't happen to Spinelli, "His doctors wouldn't let him down."

-

"You have a visitor," a police officer told Johnny and Lulu whom were wondering why they had been put in the same interrogation room.

He walked out of the doorway where they saw Maxie appear behind him and they looked at her hoping she'd have some news of some sort, not only about Spinelli, but them getting out of here.

She closed the door behind her where Lulu instantly asked, "How is he?"

"How do you think he's doing?" Maxie snapped, hating the fact that she had to be here.

Johnny apologetically glared at Maxie, "I'm sorry for what my father did to you guys."

"Yeah well, it's a little too late." She glanced at Lulu, "What the hell were you thinking bringing a gun in here and going on the run? Huh?"

"Maxie I'm sorry, we both are, just tell me how he's doing," Lulu looked at her begging for some piece of information.

"Well he's going to live…"

"Oh thank god," Lulu turned to Johnny who put his arms around her.

"You didn't let me finish," she looked at them in disgust, a fine man wasted with such a stupid selfish girl at his side, Johnny could do better, but Maxie didn't care about that anymore.

Lulu turned to her, "You said he was okay."

"No Lulu," she set her purse down on the table, "I said that he was going to live…Live for the rest of his life with pain in his shoulder, the doctors say he might never be able to use his arm again." She glared at Lulu knowing she knew what she meant, Assassin of cyberspace no more.

Maxie nodded at her in more disapproval then ever, "I don't know what he sees in you, not just Johnny, but Spinelli…"

"That's enough Maxie," Johnny put his hand up for her stop, "We didn't mean for this to happen."

"Right," she laughed in disbelief, "He kidnapped me, your father, threatened me, but I couldn't do anything about it, no I was safe until you idiots ran off."

"I'm sorry," Johnny looked at her; he didn't know what to tell her or how they could make up for what happened.

Maxie put her hand on her hip while the other rested on her forehead, thinking about that night she came to him, how scared she was and how he made it all go away, in that retrospect she couldn't be sorry that Anthony kidnapped her, "Yeah well I'm just saying it could be a while before Spinelli can get you two out of jail."

"But Jason is working on something right?" Lulu asked not intentionally trying to be insensitive.

"Yah I'm sure he is Lulu, I'm sure that's his number one priority," she huffed looking away from them.

"Maxie, I'm just as much worried about Spinelli as you…"

"Oh bull Lulu," Maxie yelled.

"Hey!" Johnny stood in front of Lulu, "We're sorry about Spinelli. We never meant for anyone to get hurt, but this isn't the time for all of us to start blaming each other for the past."

He looked at Lulu and then Maxie, "It's not. We have to stand together despite what's happened and hope things work themselves out."

For a minute he had her going until he said, "How long do you think it'll be."

Maxie huffed in frustration, "You two deserve each other I'm done."

"That's not how I meant it," Johnny looked at her to understand.

"Yes it is, you're worried about your own neck and that's exactly why I didn't want to come down here."

"Then why did you?" Lulu retorted.

"Because he asked me to," she faintly said, "he asked me to tell you he was doing just dandy and not to worry about him or for you to blame yourself."

Lulu became quiet turning away from her and hiding behind Johnny, "That's just like him."

Maxie watched as she turned her back to them, quietly sobbing.

"Lulu," Johnny walked over to her putting his hand on her shoulder before glancing back at Maxie who looked like she was about to cry.

"Tell Spinelli that we're sorry about what happened that we wish him the best in getting better and that we'll wait as long as it takes for he and Jason to figure something out."

Maxie glanced away from them crossing her arms, "Okay." She slowly grabbed her purse and turned to the door when Lulu said her name.

"Maxie," Lulu turned to her wiping the tears from her face as she walked towards her, "You and I aren't friends, but thank you for what you're doing and thank you for being there for him when I can't be."

Maxie glanced at her acknowledging her words, but hating them for it made it impossible for her to hate Lulu when she was like this, nice.

-

Around four o' clock a knock came on the door where Jason slowly put his hand on the door knob and then covered his eyes, "I'm coming in."

"Stone Cold?" Spinelli smiled brightly especially when Jason's eyes peeked through his fingers, "She's gone."

"Yes Fair Maximista has left and the Jackal awaits for her return." He smiled grabbing the newspapers on his bed and placing them on the table.

Jason sat by his bedside, "First you did well." He chuckled touching Spinelli's good shoulder, rubbing it like a friend congratulating a friend, "You did really well."

Spinelli's face turned red with nervousness, having Jason compliment him meant a lot.

"You followed all the rules, you didn't hesitate, you fired away, you aimed to kill."

"Well that's what you told me to do Stone Cold," Spinelli nervously smiled, "I only did what you instructed the grasshopper to do."

Jason laughed, "Yeah well." He wasn't exactly proud in that moment that he had taught Spinelli how to use a gun, defend himself yes, but he wasn't a fan of killing people despite what people believed.

"Anyway," Jason sighed with a smile clasping his hands together, "I'm taking care of all your medical bills, the physical therapy, anything you need I'll take care of it."

"Why thank you," he figured Jason would pay for it, but it was nice to know for sure that he would, not like Spinelli couldn't afford it.

"And don't think that I'm going to hire someone else in your place." Jason felt like he couldn't do that, this kid had been loyal to him, he had to show loyalty in return.

"Stone Cold that Jackal will understand," he looked at Jason like his feelings wouldn't be hurt, "I mean I knew what I was getting myself into. You warned me."

"I did, but it wouldn't be right to turn my back on you and to be honest I don't think I can find someone as smart and trust worthy as yourself," he grinned, "So you'll be working for me as long as you want to."

Spinelli's face lit up, why Jason was so good to him remained a mystery to him, but he was thankful to have met this man, this man who had changed his life for the better.

"Also," Jason looked at Spinelli's arm that wasn't moving, "Don't you let those doctors tell you it can not be done."

"But," Spinelli really was too willing to trust the medical professionals here, too gullible to trust them.

"No butts. Spinelli I have had doctors tell me my entire life that I was never going to feel, to survive a brain tumor, to use my hands again," he showed him his hands that looked as if they were never broken in the first place.

"Don't you dare give up because there are a lot of people counting on you Spinelli, but at the same time, take your time in your recovery, I don't want you to push yourself to the point where you make it impossible for yourself to come back to work or you get addicted to pills…"

Spinelli smiled, "Don't worry Stone Cold, I'm not going to take the path of Fair Lulu's brother."

"Speaking of Lulu and I'll add Johnny into the conversation, did you by any chance before all this happen find anything that…" He paused seeing Spinelli's smile that he had found something.

"Yes actually, you know Stone Cold I still have one good hand and…" He was hinting to Jason to get his laptop at the penthouse.

He laughed, "Nice try. Spinelli tell me what you found."

"Well okay," he sighed having a bad case of separation anxiety from his laptop.

"I was looking at different security cameras around the hotel and nearby buildings and I didn't get a chance to watch the videos, but I've looked at the same angles before…Stone Cold we may have the murder right on video or at least footage of what the unhinged one did to Maximista."

"So what are you saying?" Jason looked at him wondering if they were going to have to change the entire story around.

"I'm saying we go with the truth Stone Cold," he knew Jason didn't want to hear that, "Hear me out. If this footage comes out clear then that and with the Crabby Commando's military record and other witnesses to his rage we can prove that it was self defense."

Jason looked at him sheepishly, "I don't know. Scott Baldwin…"

Spinelli interrupted, "Scott Baldwin is just as much too involved in the case as everyone else is. The brusque lady of Justice could prove that the elderly unworthy one is out for his own revenge."

"I don't know Spinelli…"

"Come on Stone Cold," Spinelli whined for him to believe him, "It's not like he and the unworthy one were that close. The history that lies between families could be enough to prove he's just as corrupted as the DA of darkness."

Jason began to consider his theory, "So we have Lulu tell the truth and then what?"

Spinelli smiled beginning to roll off his tongue all the evidence they had, "And then we show the security footage, his military record, the witnesses of his acts of violence in the past and from the day he was killed."

Spinelli then explained another case and point, "Then the brusque lady of justice can prove the special prosecutor is using his bitter history with Fair Lulu's mother to get revenge that he's not really seeking justice for the unworthy one that it's about the father of the blonde one," he explained taking a few minutes to catch his breath for he wondered why he didn't think of all this before.

"And," Spinelli smiled, pointing at Jason with excitement, "What about the fact that he was once believed to be the Text Message Killer and he wanted to frame the mob prince."

Jason nodded like that was a bad idea, "If we bring that up Scott will bring up that Lulu hit him with a wrench, he'll make her look bad."

"But she was scared Stone Cold, she had reasonable doubt to believe he was the TMK. There's enough evidence to show that the unworthy one was self destructive, he went after the mob prince multiple times, the lady of justice could prove that he wanted to set up the mob prince by pushing the mob prince or even fair Lulu into killing him."

Jason looked at him like that theory seemed a little too far-fetched, "We need something more substantial."

They both sat there for minutes on end suggesting things when suddenly Spinelli remembered something, "There's always black mail."

Jason raised his eyebrows curious as to what he meant, "You have black mail on Scott Baldwin?"

"Remember when you asked me to help Fair Lulu on a project," he thought back to when he first met the blonde.

"Yeah her mother right?" Jason barely remembered.

"Well I still have the information, she asked me to destroy it because if he father ever found out the truth she was afraid it would destroy him, but I had feeling we'd need it someday." Spinelli smiled knowing his gut feeling almost a year ago was spot on.

"Explain." _He could be onto something now_, Jason thought.

"Well everyone thinks Fair Lulu's mother killed Rick Webber? Right?"

"Yes, are you saying that she didn't?" Jason could feel it was on the tip of his tongue the answer was near.

"I'm saying that not only did she not kill him, not only was the blonde one right when she said her mother was innocent, but that the Special Prosecutor did, Scott Baldwin killed Rick Webber."

Jason looked away from Spinelli trying to take in the realization of what he had discovered, "And you're sure about this?"

"Positive, he forged evidence as well."

"Well yes," Jason grinned beginning to explain how of use this evidence could be, "He would have had to tamper with evidence which means we could make a case for him tampering with evidence in this case and connect it back to his grudge against Luke and Laura…" Jason stopped talking, the black mail was the answer to everything now.

"Spinelli," he grinned back at him, "This is why I pay you the big bucks!"

Spinelli gloated, first good thing to happen him all day, "Well…"

"This evidence is either going to get Baldwin to shut up and drop the charges or Lulu will tell the truth pleading self defense and we'll expose it all there, he'll go to jail for murder, evidence tampering and this will be over…" Jason smiled once more; the kid was virtually a genius even without his computer, thinking like a true detective.

"Where is it, the evidence," he removed his phone getting ready to dial Diane's number.

In a hush tone he spoke incase they were to be disturbed, "I have it stored in two places. My laptop, which you have to hack into to get access or there's the place that you showed me to keep important things in. The folder is called LS-49, it's what the blonde one asked me to label it as when we were working on the case."

Jason smiled, finally a problem lifted off his shoulders. He put the phone to his ear, "Meet me at my penthouse in twenty minutes." He slid the phone into his pocket, "Good work Spinelli. Good work." He got up from his chair, "I'll let you know if Diane thinks she can build a case in the meantime you get rest."

Jason rubbed his shoulder excited as ever, soon he'd have the truce with the Zaccharas and if everything worked out then maybe just maybe he'd be able to have that perfect little family he'd always dreamed of.

"Don't tell anyone about this, not even Maxie, whoever asks you say we're taking care of it," he wanted to make sure that this didn't get leaked.

"My lips are sealed," Spinelli traced his fingers over his mouth.

"Good," Jason smiled before leaving in a flash.

Spinelli pretended to pat himself on the back, despite this mornings bad news today had overall been a great day and it was only going to get better.

"Mr. Spinelli," Leyla smiled as she walked into the room to make her normal rounds for the evening, "How are you doing?"

"The Jackal is a little tired," he yawned before he came to the same conclusion as Leyla did, "really tired I guess." He laughed as did she.

"Well I'll be quick and then you can get some sleep." She walked to the machines and began scrambling notes down.

"Take your time fair one," he smiled before grabbing a newspaper and began reading the same article from earlier.

A light knock came to the door where he heard the voice of the bad Valkeryie, "Spinelli?"

"Come in," he looked up at the doorway the same time as Leyla did.

Leyla could see as she glanced back at Spinelli's pissed face that this was not someone he wanted to see, "Ma'am Spinelli isn't up for any visitors right now."

"Oh well, I won't be long," she glanced away from the nurse to Spinelli.

"Leyla it's okay," he gave her the go ahead to let her come in.

"Are you sure Mr. Spinelli?" Leyla knew the tone of his voice, _it was not okay for this lady to be here_.

"Yeah can you come back in five?" He politely asked her, "Please Fair Leyla?"

"Of course," she smiled letting herself out the room.

He watched the door close and then turned to her, "Vixenella…" He glared at her.

"Spin," she grinned with enthusiasm.

He looked back down at the newspaper, "So what does the bad Valkeryie want?"

"Spinelli I didn't know my father was going to try to kill Maxie," she walked towards him.

"Right," he looked at her to save it for someone who wants to hear an apology.

"Spinelli I'm not here to upset you, I'm here to say I'm sorry for what happened to you and that I want to make it up to you." She stopped in front of his bed removing an envelope from inside her black jacket.

He looked back down at the article ignoring her pleas, "You know I like to believe the good in everybody, I even like to give people a second chance at times, but the Jackal's patience are no more."

She took a seat in the chair next to his bedside, "Spinelli." She whined his name scooting the chair forward and setting a medium sized brown envelope on his bed.

"What's this?" He scarcely looked at her.

"Well I knew a simple apology wouldn't do it and I know this won't make up for it either, but…" She removed a document from the paper, "I don't want you to get the impression that I think money makes up for this because it doesn't."

He took the paper from her hand and began reading the document, which was really a letter.

"As you'll see," she paused seeing Spinelli's face gawk in amazement, "The document entails everything for you, on the back it explains exactly where you need to go and what you need to do."

"The Jackal is appreciative, amazed, bewildered, but may he ask the," he glanced down at the letter, "May he ask The lady in red," he glanced up at her, "Why she is doing this because it certainly isn't necessary."

Claudia nodded in disagreement, "Yes it is necessary. I'm doing this because you're a good person Spinelli and Maxie was right about what she said…"

"About you, you believed me, trusted me even before Sonny and Jason did and what I did to you yesterday was wrong. I should have never confided the things we discussed to her. I'm embarrassed and truly saddened by it and I only hope this won't compromise my brother's freedom or his life in question."

"It won't," he slowly glanced up from her, "We're working on a solution right now."

"Good," she smiled like she really needed to hear such words, "It's just that I don't want him paying for mistakes that I made or my father made, you can understand that right?"

"Yes," he set the paper down, "I understand I just, I mean I don't like to hold grudges against people, hate them, I mean the unworthy one was different, but…" He looked down at the paper, "I can't accept this, it's just too much."

"It's not enough." She simply looked at him before sneaking a smile on her face, "So are we cool?"

"Um," he looked down at the paper and then looked back at her, "I would say so, but this doesn't at all excuse what happened Vixenella."

"I know it doesn't," she touched his hand.

In a fit of anger he dropped the Spinelli-isms, "I mean Maxie, my Maxie could have died and if something had happened to her," he looked up at the ceiling outraged at the thought. "You have no idea the kind of wrath I would have brought down on this town, on the Zaccharas." The shooting had proved many things to him that if he really wanted to he could become Stone Cold in a flash, now that he had been Stone Cold, there wouldn't be much stopping him from being the man again if someone he loved was in danger.

"And I'm not just talking through my hacking skills, the Jackal would have made sure with the help of Stone Cold…"

"I got the lecture from Jason," she interrupted, "Believe me," and she meant it for if something ever happened to someone she loved, she'd want revenge too.

"All we want is to peacefully co-exist, we can do that now with my father out of the way and Sonny no longer running things. Johnny can run the business and be with Lulu no matter how much I protest it," god even the idea of them having a future still bothered her, but she had no choice but to accept it.

"Jason will be assured of a truce which will enforce a bigger truce among all the families on the east coast and he'll get that happy family that I'm sure is waiting for him because he never takes me up on a game of pool," she laughed with annoyance.

"But I can go back to Milan, Italy, back to traveling and being free," she smiled oh how she missed her life.

"And you, Spinelli, you can do whatever you want. Work for Jason, use what I've given you to start a business, do something good and you can hopefully be with," she coughed, "Maxie," she coughed again, really not liking the ladies her young male friend and brother decided to fall in love with.

"You can hopefully be with Maxie, right?" She teased him knowing that's what he really wanted.

He goofily laughed, "We'll see."

"Yeah right, you want to be with her, but I will say, don't change yourself for her and don't let her take all your money, cause you've typed your way to carpel tunnel syndrome to get the money Jason pays you," she joked.

"I mean if she doesn't know what she has right in front of her now then well that nurse I saw you with earlier, she had her eye on you…" And she was nice, smart, had a real career.

"Nah," he rolled his eyes, "My heart pitter patters for one and I'm expecting her any minute now and your presence would definitely upset her."

"And we wouldn't want to upset Ms. Maxie Jones would we?" She grinned getting up from the chair.

"Easy Vixenella, you don't want the Jackal taking back his second chance on you do you?"

"No, I don't," she softly smiled, "I just want everything to go back to the way it was."

"As does the Jackal," he lifted the paper, "And I think this will help tremendously with my…" He hinted his eyes to his shoulder before giving her the answer she was looking for, "So the Jackal and the Valkeryie are cool."

"Alright," she kissed his forehead, "You get better," she backed away to the door, "You hide that too now."

"I will." He motioned to the brown envelope.

"I'll come visit you and if you have any problems with all of that, let me know." She winked, "Ta Ta for now sweetie." She blew a kiss in his direction and left the room.

Spinelli grinned as she left the room and then looked back down at the letter, it didn't make up for what happened, but it almost did, almost as in it was buried under the hatchet.

_Dear Mr. Spinelli,_

_We are very saddened by recent events that were by no accident caused by the once head of the family, Anthony Zacchara. It brings us great sorrow that you were hurt and almost died in your attempt to prevent what we would like to call a potential conflict with our competitor. Your acts of bravery in preventing the Commissioner's daughter from becoming collateral damage in this mess will be rewarded as well. Since Mr. Morgan has agreed to take care of your hospital bills and the necessary treatment for your injuries we have decided the only way to make things right is to grant you __one million dollars__. _

_Now we know that this amount can't possibly make up for the heartaches and troubles that you face in the long run, but I give you my word that what happened on Friday July 31__st__, yesterday to be exact was an act committed by a mad man and that we do not wish to make enemies with you or your boss. To further show how much your forgiveness means to us we have also arranged for you to have a lifetime supply of orange soda and barbeque chips (see bottom of the page for details). In addition to that on the day you are released from the hospital a package will be delivered to you as a final token of our appreciation that you do not retaliate to what we again repeat as a tragic misunderstanding._

_With best of luck in your recovery, _

_The lady in red, Claudia Zacchara _

_Approved by the following_

_Head of the family_

_Johnny Zacchara_

_Family Lawyers_

_Ric Lansing_

_Trevor Lansing_

--

Hey! So I'm trying to give Claudia more balls then she has on Gh, lol. I love the letter thing I wrote. LOL. Go Claudia! Jason was pretty funny in this chapter. Okay next chapter will definitely be one about SPins physical therapy and they'll be multiple scenes taking place over days at a time. The story will fast forward a week or so. Thanks to everyone who nominated this fic!

Thanks for reading and review! I love the feedback.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Okay this chapter didn't exactly go as planned, as I started writing well it kind of had a mind of it's own so the whole idea about having multiple scenes over a period of time didn't exactly work because I need to lay more ground work. So the next chapter will definitely be that. As for this chapter we have a new character, the trainer, he's a Mr.Miyagi mixed in with the Mickey Goldmill character from Rocky. Lol. Anyway enjoy, review. Oh and this chapter has a lot of twists I would say in the beginning. Spinelli well, just isn't exactly himself and neither is Maxie hmm.

Chapter 11

"Mr. Spinelli!" Dr. Bayard walked into his office to see the man sitting on the examining table with his gown and sweat pants on.

"Where's that blonde girl that's always bugging me?" He chewed the gum in his mouth letting his ego show through.

"Um," Spinelli looked away from Leyla, slightly embarrassed that Maxie was late, "She should be here any minute…"

"I'm here!" Maxie stormed in running behind Dr. Bayard.

"Now," Spinelli looked at Leyla before feeling Maxie tug on his good arm, "Sorry Spin. Traffic is a…"

"So," Dr. Bayard interrupted her looking down at Spinelli's charts, I see Dr. Julian has cleared you for discharge."

"Yes, he says my once blood spilling artery is completely repaired." Spinelli looked away from him to Maxie who frowned whispering, "Sorry."

Spinelli let her hand sit in his before looking up at Dr. Bayard, "So Doctor Commando you were saying."

Dr. Bayard looked up at him smiling, he liked the name Spinelli had given him, reminded him of the old days, "As I was saying," his eyes glared at Maxie for a second before looking down at Spinelli's charts, "You came in here a week ago with a torn shoulder tendon, you were given morphine for the first two days until the incision was dry."

Dr. Bayard flipped a few papers overlooking the week's notes, "Good, good and you've been exercising your hand with that ball I gave you?" He looked up.

"Yup," Spinelli smiled he had exercised that ball to death trying to keep himself occupied during the hours he was alone.

"Show me," Dr. Bayard turned away from him grabbing a ball and purposely tossing it at him to get the boy's reflects back in order.

Spinelli grabbed the ball in the air feeling the repercussions instantly, "Ah."

Maxie instantly touched his good shoulder to comfort him before glaring back at the doctor wondering why he just did that when he obviously knew what was going to happen.

"That's expected Mr. Spinelli. I just want to see that your fingers, wrist all have motion," he didn't want his patient to hate him for this was all by the book, standard procedure.

Spinelli nodded holding his arm close to his side as he lowered his hand down, clenching his jaw as he could feel his muscles contracting.

Dr. Bayard watched as Spinelli squeezed the ball, "Good. Any pain at all?"

He contemplated telling the truth, but he remembered what Jason said about recovery, "A little, not as much as before, it's more of a pinch then being hit with a sledge hammer." Spinelli nervously joked hoping his honesty hadn't postponed his physical therapy.

Dr. Bayard nodded looking back down at the papers, "Alright and Nurse Mir here has been on occasion moving the shoulder a few times a day."

Leyla nodded, "Yes doctor, I started three days ago, just stretching the arm, rotating the shoulder, basic maneuvers."

Dr. Bayard nodded once more looking down at Spinelli's chart, "And you're x-rays look well, the tendon is very much healed, um medication…" He looked up at Spinelli, "Since you've been in the hospital we've prescribed you morphine and then Demerol before I prescribe you oral pain medication which you'll probably start taking the day before you leave here…"

"And when," Maxie hesitantly interrupted him, "When do you think he'll be discharged?"

"Well," that was a good question, "Let's get this figured out first, Spinelli do you have any history with drugs?"

Spinelli nodded, "Um I smoked Marijuana about a year and half ago."

"Didn't we all?" He Joked, "Oh the seventies," he laughed looking down at his charts, "Good decade if it wasn't for that war."

Maxie glanced at Spinelli who glanced at Leyla, all three wondering what was up with the doctor who seemed a little preoccupied with the past.

His laugh turned into a bitter sigh as he scribbled something on Spinelli's charts, "In that case however I don't want to take any chances, hydrocodone is very addictive as are other pain medications that I would normally prescribe, but since you have a history with drugs I'm going to prescribe you Ultram."

"Ultram doctor?" Leyla looked at him like that wasn't even going to help.

Maxie glanced at Leyla seeing there was something that upset her by his words.

"Yes," he looked up at them, "It will have some of the same side effects, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drossiness, but it's much safer to take."

Spinelli nodded thankfully for that was one of the main things he was worried about, "I appreciate your seriousness in this matter."

Dr. Bayard smiled, "Sure kid. I knew a lot of soldiers who lost themselves to pain medication, well they lost themselves to the war, but I'd hate to see a spunky smart kid like you turn into one of those guys."

Spinelli smiled brightly in the corner of his mouth, "Thank you."

"Yeah, so as for discharge, I think we should wait until you get used to the physical therapy program I have put in for you and then we'll see." He closed the binder, "Mr. Spinelli I'm officially clearing you for physical therapy, good luck and I'll check in on you later, see you later soldier," he winked, "Nurse Mir…" He motioned for her to come with him.

Maxie watched as they left and then looked at Spinelli concerned, "Are you okay? I can't believe he threw that ball at you, he knew…"

"Maximista," he sweetly smiled at her, "The Jackal is fine."

"Are you sure?" She sympathetically rubbed his good arm, "I just hate seeing you hurt and…" She felt the water works coming until he cupped her cheek, "What did the Jackal tell you about getting upset?"

"Not to do it," she pouted with annoyance, "But are you sure you're okay."

"I will be once you help me off of here," he smiled jokingly.

"Alright," she happily put her arms around his waist, "Okay?"

"Yeah," he put his hand around her back and pushed himself off the table, "Whoa…" He felt himself wobbly, but she held onto him keeping him from falling.

He slowly glanced up at her, "Thanks…"

She nervously smiled, her eyes locking on his, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he smiled loosening up his grip around her back, "So tell me how the fashionista is doing?" He grabbed his arm swing off the table.

"Well things are busy," she helped him put it on.

"Very descriptive Maximista," he teased her with a slight annoyance for she had done this most of the week, avoiding the topic.

"Well," she whined in annoyance yet excitement, "We're just getting ready for the launch no thanks to Lulu."

"Aw don't worry about Fair Lulu," he slowly walked with her out of Dr. Bayard's office.

"Why not," she hesitantly asked.

"Let's just say the Jackal believes that Fair Lulu will be returning to us very soon."

"Great," Maxie rolled her eyes, _cause I missed her so much_, she sarcastically told herself.

"Blonde one," he looked at her as they walked down the hall.

"Sorry Spinelli," she huffed in a laugh remembering the twit when she saw her the other day, "You should have seen her all she cared about was getting out and…"

"Maximista," he raised his voice, "Please stop stressing over the fugitive ones."

"But."

"No."

"But Spinelli," she whined.

"Maximista," he raised his voice in the same whine, "The blonde one and the mob prince should not be of any concern to you anymore. It's all over."

"Oh it is? How can it be over?" She whispered angrily.

"Because I…" He wandered his eyes away from her, "Let's just say when you were out Stone Cold came by a few days ago and I…"

"Don't tell me he made you work?" She tugged on his arm, "Spinelli!"

"Uh blonde one!" He raised his arm in the sling out of habit of usually flailing his arms about right now, "Ah…Blonde one I had to."

"No you didn't!" She argued playfully hitting his good arm, "Spinelli you're recovering from a very painful surgery Jason knows that!"

"I had to protect them." And he no kidding did, he had had to get a solution soon.

"No," she nodded, "They got themselves into this mess if they had not gone on the run…"

"I had to protect you," he simply explained.

"Me?" She questioned wondering why her name would even be mentioned anymore.

"The Jackal wants this mess handled so his blonde one can stop worrying herself over this."

"I'm not worrying myself over this, I'm worrying myself over you," she bit her lip wishing she hadn't said that because he glared at her in annoyance.

"I told you not to," he stopped as they stood in front of his room.

"Spinelli," she still didn't understand why he had such a problem with her worrying about him.

He removed his hand from her grip and opened the door, "I don't want you worrying about the Jackal."

"Why?" She closed the door be hind her.

"Because," he turned to her, "It's not good for your health."

She looked at him like that was a rather stupid point, "My heart is fine."

"I'm not just talking about your heart, I'm talking about you," he honestly looked at her speaking seriously.

"Spinelli," she looked at him not to start this again.

"You know I'm right," he kindly, but seriously told her as she set her purse on the table and grabbed his white Hanes t-shirt and black gym shorts from the bag Jason brought.

She stopped in front of him placing the clothes on the bed where she gently took the sling out his arm, "I'm fine."

He huffed in frustration at the way she ignored her health and looked away from her where he began to take his gown off. She motioned to help him, but he brushed her hand off like he could do it himself, but after struggling for a minute trying to remove his hurt arm out of the socket, he let her help him.

Removing the gown from him she placed it on the bed while he grabbed the white shirt next to him, "Thank you." He grunted reluctantly looking into her eyes that soon glanced away from his to the scar on his chest, the scar right over his heart.

She hesitantly grazed her fingers over it, "I have a scar like this."

"I know," he looked up at her knowing she knew exactly how he knew.

She looked into his eyes, his eyes that were staring into his like they never wanted to stop and that's when she began to feel light headed.

"Maxie," he could see her face turning paler then before and then her body slowly rocked forward like she had no control, "Maxie!" He quickly put his arms around her, a rising sting in his shoulder, but he ignored the pain.

She was still very conscious only now she was awkwardly in his arms and slowly looking up at him to see his very scared yet angry face as if she was hiding something from him. "Don't tell me you're fine."

"I'm just a little tired that's all," she honestly told him as she slowly leaned off of him desperately not wanting him to press this issue.

"Really?" He looked at her once again annoyed that she was withholding something from him, "You know Maximista I'm in a lot of pain, but not so much to stop ignoring your pain, so tell me what the hell is going on?" He swiftly put his hands on his hips feeling a sharp pain as he did so, "Tell me because it's not just that you're a little tired, you're pale, very pale, you're light headed…"

"What do you want me to say Spinelli?" She yelled while backing away from him.

"I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders before wishing he hadn't done that. He looked away from his shoulder grabbing the white t-shirt and throwing it on, "I don't know," he pulled the shirt down, "I just thought that you'd tell your best friend that you're not feeling well."

"But no," he nodded becoming pissed, "You don't tell me anything." He shrugged his shoulders again wishing he could stop doing that in habit.

"Spinelli," she wanted him to calm down, but he interrupted her.

"I'm cooped up in here," he grabbed his shorts motioning her to turn around, "Stone Cold is busy with Fair Lulu and the regretful business he took over from the godfather," he put his shorts on, "Fair Samantha is babysitting, Nurse Mir and Nurse Crowe are working."

She could hear the spandex and turned around to see him looking quite attractive in what he was wearing, his almost close to a six pack chest showing through and the black shorts that matched perfectly with the white shirt, if he only dressed like a man more often.

"The Jackal is bored out of his mind here reading," he quickly jerked his neck and back to the newspapers on the bed, grabbing the stack and turning to her, "Reading article after article about what a great hero the Jackal is, how he prevented an all out mob war, how he and his boss were secretly behind it," he threw newspaper after newspaper back on the bed before he saw the last headline, "How he saved the commissioner's daughter," he threw the newspaper, "How I'm a hero and yet I don't feel like one!"

She looked at him to stop this melt down, this talk of his, this honesty in his voice that wouldn't normally come out so harsh or so clear, "Spinelli." She wanted to tell him that not only was he a hero, but he was her hero.

"And the one person I need the most who said she was going to be here for me, isn't here!" He crossed his arms as if he was too hyper to acknowledge that his shoulder really couldn't handle anymore-sudden movements.

"And whose fault is that?" She unintentionally snapped back at him, "You were the one that said you didn't want me to hanging around here that you wanted me to work."

"Yeah and I do," he nodded, "I wanted to see you at the end of the day with a smile on your face that you were happy because seeing you happy Maximista makes me happy, takes my mind off of what happened." He set his hands on his hips, "But you don't work anymore just to make the time pass by."

"What?" She looked at him like this was insane, but moreover was wondering why it sounded like he was questioning her loyalty.

He looked away from her, "It's like when you're here with me…" He paused before glancing up at her, "It's like you want to be out there!" He pointed at the window.

"No Spinelli," she tried to explain her possibly distracted behavior lately.

He frown putting both his hands on his hips looking at the floor, "All I know is that a week ago you didn't used to see me like that."

"I feel," he clenched his jaw having never been this honest with her before, maybe it was the accident, maybe it was the drugs, maybe it was because he had been all alone, but Spinelli found himself cracking.

"I feel, I feel like an obligation," he glanced up at her, "I feel like you're here because you have to be not because you're my friend, but because 'oh it's time to see Spinelli for," he looked down at an invisible watch on his arm, "For two hours' let me try to pretend like I had a horribly boring day' let me have nothing to say so I can leave."

She nodded in disagreement like she wasn't intentionally trying to act like that, yes she threw herself into work, but that was to take her mind off of what he was going through, it wasn't to forget him, "Spin."

He interrupted her, "I feel like you're here because I saved your life, like you have to repay me somehow and I won't have someone by my bedside as an obligation and I thought," he looked away from her knowing this wasn't like him, he wouldn't be so blunt like this, but instead of stopping himself he kept running his mouth of frustrations.

He took a deep breath before looking up at her, "I thought you and I were better then that. I thought we had moved on from the point of using each other to find Georgie's killer, to finding out who shot little Michael, I thought were actually friends."

"We are," she weakly said with a hollow emptiness, his words were breaking her heart.

"Well we don't act like it," he looked away from her wiping his good hand through his hair before rubbing his good shoulder and closing his eyes feeling the hostility in his muscles now.

She could see his face trying to take in relief from the pain, the pain that had perhaps brought on this sudden attack on her, but she knew that although the pain and the drugs might have sprung it on, everything he said certainly had a truth to it.

Ferociously rubbing his neck with his eyes still closed he took a deep breath talking to her in a much calmer voice, "Do you regret what you said about being here fore me?"

"Do you?" He softly asked before sitting on the side of the bed feeling the pain getting worse.

His eyes intensely closed realizing that massaging the good shoulder and side of his neck wasn't exactly the answer, he needed to massage his bad shoulder, but in doing so would only irritate it. But at the moment he was desperate to try anything so began to slowly rub his the bruised shoulder where he began to breathe erratically.

She hated seeing him like this, his face red his nostrils flailing his jaw wanting to stop moving, but yet still wanted to talk to her as if her voice would calm him down.

He opened his eyes glancing at her, "Do you regret it like you regret us being together?" He tried to act like her answer wouldn't completely destroy him, but as he stopped massaging his shoulder and rested his hands on his lap he looked at her, "Do you regret all of this?" He wanted to frown, but knew if he did that it might affect her answer so he looked at her seriously hoping to get a serious answer.

She looked at him not wanting to answer the question, "Do you want me to go?"

"No I want you to answer my question," he turned to her.

"I can't answer that," she nervously looked at him.

"Because you do, because you regret all this," he slowly nodded turning away from her where he closed his eyes, just as he feared, _damn._

"Spinelli," why was he always so quick to think the worst.

He looked at her trying to think of something, "No it's okay. I get it." He sighed with a laugh looking away from her, god his heart ached now, "I just want to know when you knew, when you saw Jackal as yet another regret?"

He looked at her waiting for an answer, but she just mindlessly stared at him, "You know maybe you should just go." He was tired that she couldn't just simply give an answer, this wasn't rocket science, it was a simple yes or no.

She nodded completely saddened by his mood swings that had some how turned her into the worst person ever, "Maybe I should."

He could see the look of complete and utter disbelief on her face, which only made him think to himself, _why do I feel like the bad guy, why do I feel like the villain, why do I look at her and have regret?_

Spinelli sprung up from the bed stepping in front of her as she was walking to the table where her purse was at, "What now?" She asked feeling like she was about to cave in any moment, collapse in his arms and apologize for being an unfeeling bitch.

"Why can't you give me an answer?" He desperately asked feeling like this was all blown out to proportion, if she would just be honest with him.

She looked at him wondering what he really wanted, no, she knew what he wanted, but she found herself giving in. The way he talked to her, burst out in a tantrum, it freaked her out, scared her, and instead of trying to reach out to him and convince him he was wrong, she just wanted to let him believe whatever he wanted to believe.

"Do you want me to leave?" She crossed her arms, "Because I can. Kate has a ton of work to be done. I don't have to be here."

He sincerely looked at her feeling her tone was telling him more and more that her intentions were genuine, "The Jackal never asked you to be," he didn't mean to state it so matter of fact, but she was the one that had offered to be there for him, made promises after he repeatedly told her that she didn't need to, he wished she hadn't given him her word because then it wouldn't feel like she betrayed him.

"Fine I'll go," she turned away from him walking towards the table.

He wondered why she was acting like this, pushing him away, being moody and pissed at him. All he wanted was for her to open up to him. He was only worried about her, trying to look out for her and she found a way to manipulate the entire conversation into making him feel like shit, "Don't."

She stopped with her back to him wanting to cry. She didn't understand why she was acting like this all he was trying to do was take care of her like she had done for him and instead she had pushed him to become a fraction of someone she didn't know.

He licked his dry nervous lips, he could feel the pain in his arm going away, maybe it was the last bit of Demerol or maybe it was her, but he found himself calm, "I don't know what just happened back there." Not like he was taking back everything he said for he felt like it needed to be put out there, but _why was she being like this_, he wondered.

"I don't know how the Jackal being concerned for you somehow turned into questioning our entire friendship or your loyalty, maybe it's me, the medication, the pain, and if it is I'm sorry but…" He couldn't shake this feeling that something else was going on.

"It's just that…" He looked down at the floor, "Maximista I know you."

He set his hand on her shoulder before leaning in, "I can tell that something is wrong."

He wandered his eyes away from her blonde hair that was pinned up to his other hand that he was slowly raising itself to her other shoulder, "Maxie talk to me."

She began to feel his other hand on her, the two hands working together massage her shoulders, "Spinelli you don't…" She knew it might be causing him pain and he was already hurting enough.

"I want to," he continued to rub his fingers over her skin and the thin yellow breezy blouse that she had worn when she rushed into the hospital last month to see him suffering from the Asian Ague.

She closed her eyes before putting her purse on the dresser that was in front of her, "Spin."

"Shh…" He could hear the whimper in her voice, he was finally making some progress. He stopped massaging her shoulders and leaned in to gently kiss the back of her shoulder, "What is it?"

She spread her hands along the dresser desperately trying not to break down, "I'm sorry." She thought an apology might stop her from having to admit the things she was afraid of.

"You're forgiven," he quickly said moving his hands without a thought as to the pain it might cause him.

She could hear his voice stiffen up, but as she felt his arms around her she couldn't tell him to stop comforting her as a friend as more as something they hadn't discussed yet.

Leaning over her shoulder he leaned his cheek against hers, "Now tell me what's going on."

When she didn't respond he wondered if he had over stepped himself, they had done this on and off during the week, affectionately holding each other, tenderly kissing one another, both comforting each other in the way they had that evening. All their emotions from the past week were unconventional, their friends and family would say it was because the two were in love, but they themselves couldn't feel like they could admit such an emotion because was it love?

"If this makes you feel uncomfortable," he began to remove his hands from her waist, "The jackal is sorry." He looked away from her and when she didn't say anything he turned his back to her feeling like an idiot, "We never really discussed anything." He frowned at himself, _just shut up before you sound like a bigger idiot._ He stopped in front of the bed turning to the sheets where he nervously tapped his fingers, "I mean we never said whether this was us being friends or…"

"Spinelli," Maxie turned to him, she had wanted to stop him from moving away from her, she wanted to grab his hand and have him hold her longer, try to get rid of the fear that was clouding her mind. Leaning her back against the dresser, she was ready to tell him everything.

He looked at her wondering what she was going to say, but like fait would have it they were interrupted.

"Um they're ready for you," Leyla said before realizing she had interrupted something, "I'll comeback in five." She began to close the door, but as Spinelli stared at Maxie waiting for her to say something like 'yeah five minutes would be great' and when he realized she wasn't going to, "No." He turned to Leyla which irritated Maxie, she wanted them to finish this here, she didn't want to go home losing sleep over this, she didn't want believe that she and him were having one of those serious conversations that determine friendship.

"I'm ready now," he told her not necessarily wanting to end the conversation with Maxie right now, but he thought maybe if they had some space he could work the frustrations out in his therapy session that he could realize his own demon when he wrongly attacked her over an issue he could have addressed to her a little more calmer, kindler and gentler.

_You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,_ that's what he was afraid of, the infamous quote he heard while watching TV before his accident, the trailer from the Dark Knight, a quote that had haunted him until now because he just saw himself become that villain._ ­_

Leyla still felt nervous about what she walked in on, "Alright well I'll be outside," she politely gave them the five minutes that Spinelli said they didn't need, but Maxie obviously wanted.

He turned to her, "The Jackal can't help you unless you tell him what's going on, but since your not going to at least not right now…"

"What if," she interrupted him, "What if I said you were right about everything?"

She grabbed his tennis shoes from his gym bag and walked towards him, "What if I told you that I'm sorry and I didn't know you felt like that and I'll try to do better."

She stopped in front of him, "What if I said that I don't regret anything that's happened between us and that there's no other place I'd rather be then here right now with you."

He softly smiled taking the shoes from her and setting them on the bed where he looked at her crossing his arms, "Maxie, I forgave you five minutes ago."

She looked up at him completely surprised yet taking his words to heart, becoming extremely emotional, "Really?"

He nodded, "You had me at…" He had to think about it, "Well the Jackal has to think about where we were at five minutes ago and he thinks it was precisely over there near the dresser where I began to give you a shoulder massage and you began to let me in."

She laughed with tears in her eyes completely happy that he just forgave her, "Maximista come here," he held his arms wide open for her, "I'm sorry Maximista."

"No I'm sorry," she hugged him, "I'm so sorry, you were looking out for me and I turned into a jerk and I'm just sorry Spinelli."

He put his good arm around her, "I'm sorry too."

She placed her hand on his chest, "Let's never fight again."

"Deal," he hugged her with a huge grin on his face, it was load off his mind, "Just next time clue me in on what's going on so I don't have to become my worst enemy to bring it out of you." He didn't know why he exactly said that for he still didn't know why she was upset or why she felt sick, so many questions that needed answers that he couldn't get because he was stuck in this stupid hospital.

Leyla glanced in the mirror seeing Spinelli's arm around Maxie who just broke down right in front of him, she was jealous sure, but she wasn't jealous to the point to interrupt them, no she'd wait five minutes.

Spinelli looked down at Maxie who just wanted to be in his arms forever, "Why don't you pull yourself together Maximista, get a few minutes of rest that I know you need…" He insisted and she smiled rolling her eyes, "And then find Leyla and I and this coach guy that's supposed to get me back into shape."

"Are you sure?" She looked up at him wanting to be there with him from the beginning.

"Yeah," he nodded cupping her cheek, "You look exhausted, you look more tired than myself which means your pushing yourself."

"But I'm not though, I got to work, I come here where I pretty much sleep with you in the bed so," she didn't understand it.

"Well," he glanced at his bed, "Why don't you take a nap," he motioned.

"Spinelli!" She laughed like he had to be joking, "You can't be serious."

"Oh come on," he put his hand around her back, "Look they put new sheets and everything on so you don't have to worry about getting the Jackal on you."

That was about the silliest thing she had heard all day, "Spinelli."

"On bed," he pulled the sheets back and glared at her.

"Okay, ten minutes," she told him, jumping into the bed.

He pulled the sheets over her, "Ha, I bet you a whole case of the nectar of the gods that you will be asleep the entire hour I'm gone."

"You're on," she grinned.

"Pleasant dreams," he winked.

"You forgot something," she pointed to her cheek as she felt her eyes fall heavily on the pillow.

"Aw yes, a good night kiss," he leaned over and gently kissed it, "Get some rest." He whispered for he was quite concerned by this behavior.

He grabbed his shoes and his arm sling and then backed away to the doorway turning the lights off where he gazed at her for a few seconds and then closed the door.

"Sorry Nurse Mir," he grinned, "I apologize for the wait."

"It's okay, hopefully your trainer won't mind," she told him.

"Who is this guy anyways?" He asked as he quickly slipped his shoes on and put his arm in the sling.

"Um Dr. Bayard's brother," she looked up at him and he was just as hesitant.

They got on the fifth floor of the hospital and walked to the physical therapy gym, "So what's his name?" Spinelli panned the area of patients with their trainers wondering which one was his.

"Mickey Bayard," she said having never met the man before.

"Who's asking?" A grave harsh loud voice came from behind them.

Spinelli scarcely glanced at Leyla as they turned around to face the man whose voice did not match the body type.

The short, five foot tall, seventy-one year old man, small and scrawny could see the scared looks on the two figures that were tall than him, "So you must be the guy my brother keeps talking about."

Spinelli nervously smiled, "Yes."

"Mr. Bayard," Leyla spoke up introducing the patient, "This is Damian Spinelli. He tore a tendon last week."

"Thank you nurse, but I do know how to read a file," he looked away from her to the man who seemed bothered by the tone he took with her, "What?" Mickey grimly asked, "You don't like the way I talk to her?" He walked towards him, "Is…" He looked up at the Nurse's nametag, "You don't like the way I talk to Leyla Mir?"

"No I don't," Spinelli looked at him annoyed, the man was a real jerk.

"Spinelli," Leyla touched his arm, "It's okay."

"No it's not," he looked away from her.

Mickey laughed, "Oh you and Nurse Mir are friends?"

"Yes we are," Spinelli nodded.

"Well that's going to be a problem," he crossed his arms.

"I assure you it won't be," Leyla honestly looked at the bitter man.

He laughed looking back down at his file, "I see a Ms. Jones is supposed to also be here to take care of your pathetic ass?"

"Watch your mouth," Spinelli spoke up.

"Ooo this man's got a temper?" Mickey continued to antagonize the boy.

"No he doesn't sir," Leyla interrupted, "Ms. Jones is a special friend of his," she grinned at Spinelli who grinned back.

"Oh this boy has a girl friend?" Mickey walked towards him with a bright smile.

"She's not my girl friend," Spinelli nervously smiled.

"Oh well she just said special friend," he looked back at Leyla and the back at Spinelli, "Oh I see she's a friends with benefits deal."

"No sir," Spinelli corrected.

Leyla tried to take the heat off of him, "Mr. Bayard, what does this have to do with anything, we're on a tight schedule and we're…"

"Wasting your time?" He looked at her, "Tell me," Mickey paused taking the file from his arm, "Mr. Spinelli," he looked up at the man he was making nervous, "Tell me Mr. Spinelli why in the world would you want your friend," he glanced at Leyla, "And your special friend Ms. Jones," Mickey laughed before leaning in towards his face, "To watch you go through the worst pain you'll ever be in?"

"Support?" Spinelli guessed what he was once confident in.

"Support?" Mickey questioned, "Hmm like I haven't heard that one before." He glanced at Leyla, "Today Mr. Spinelli will be alone."

"But I've been hired to be his assistant," she glanced at Spinelli who was just too scared to say anything.

"And we'll see how long that lasts, but today I want to get to know Damian." He looked up at the boy was shaking, "I want to see what makes Damian here," he began walking around him, "Think, act, talk, move, what makes him nervous, what makes him scared," he evilly grinned.

Leyla looked at him trying to figure out what this old man's angle was, "Mr. Spinelli is only here for his shoulder, to gain full use of it back."

"Mr. Spinelli say goodbye to your friend," the old man stood next to him waiting.

"Guess the Jackal will see you later?" He frowned with a smile desperately wishing he wasn't about to be left alone with Mr. Miyagi who seemed destined to make him Dan-San.

"Yeah, have fun Mr. Spinelli," Leyla nervously smiled for her friend.

"Oh we're going to have tons of fun," Mickey put his hand on Spinelli's back.

"Fair Leyla, make sure no one disturbs the blonde one," he wanted Maxie to get the rest she so rightfully deserved.

"Of course," she smiled before walking outside the gym wearily looking in on the old man and Spinelli, "This can't be good."

"So Mr. Spinelli," he walked him over to his area of the gym, "Why do you call yourself the Jackal?"

Spinelli removed his arm from the sling, "Um because the Jackal is the Assassin of cyberspace," Spinelli nervously explained.

"Say what?" Mickey looked at him, "Cyber what?"

"I rule the internet," Spinelli corrected himself.

"And how do you do that?" The short man put his hands on his hips.

Spinelli stood in front of him, "If the Jackal told you, he'd have to kill you."

"Good answer," he smirked, "Now see that weight."

Spinelli looked down at the forty-pound weight, "Um yes."

"Pick it up," he glanced up at him.

Spinelli motioned to pick it up with his good hand, but Mickey interrupted his motion, "The other hand."

"Okay," Spinelli hesitantly reached for it.

"Come on kid pick-it-up," he ordered.

Spinelli grasped his hands on it and with a deep breath picked it up.

Mickey watched as the kid struggled to pick it up instinctively using his other arm to help him, "No." He whisked the hand away, "Now you've already done most of the work, you've lifted it off the ground."

"Shouldn't I…" He paused, "Lighter weight?" He suggested feeling his hand losing grip of the weight.

"I don't know you tell me?" He said seeing the kid's mouth drop.

Spinelli dropped the weight quickly grabbing his shoulder and then sitting on the bench, "Why did the Rocky Balboa trainer ask the Jackal to pick up a weight he knew he couldn't lift?"

"Kid, you saw that weight, you didn't tell me you couldn't lift it," he saw Spinelli's pissed off face.

"You didn't ask," Spinelli looked at him wondering what the hell kind of trainer he was, "But the Jackal will tell you right now, he does not bench."

Mickey laughed getting down on his knees looking up at him, "I knew that when you walked in."

"Did my brother tell you anything about me?" Mickey pushed the weight over.

"No Doctor Commando said nothing about you," Spinelli said as he continued to hold his shoulder.

"Let go of your shoulder," the man grabbed his arm briefly changing subjects, "You are here to get that arm of yours back into shape, if I see you grab your shoulder again, I'm gonna punish you, just like if you come late again, I'll keep you another hour."

"Can you do that?"

"Kid I've been working here for a long time, I can do whatever I want and I will in order to get you to where you need to be which you're employer tells me is…"

Spinelli's face lit up, "You talked to Stone Cold?"

"That's another thing kid," he nodded in annoyance, "You are going to have to start learning to call people my their real names, call me Mickey, not Mickey Mouse or Rocky Balboa or Mr. Miyagi, now pick up this weight…"

Spinelli looked at it hesitant, "But the Jackal can't lift it, isn't it best to start small and build your way up?"

"My brother really didn't tell you anything about me?"

"No."

"All you need to know is that I know what I'm doing. My methods are different from other trainers, you may not approve of them and that's too bad, suck it up, do what I say and I promise you the juice will be worth the squeeze," he proudly grinned just like he does every time he delivers this speech, "Oh and in the first week, I guarantee you will hate me."

"The Jackal doubts that," Spinelli smiled.

"Believe me, you will," he laughed with a serious tone, "I'm not your friend, I'm not your father or grand father," he definitely was old enough, "I'm not your priest or rabbi, I'm you're trainer."

"I will push you harder then you can imagine, harder then your friends, harder then your family will, harder than yourself," and he'd soon realize why Mickey didn't want Leyla or Mr. Jones involved.

In the hundred times he had delivered this speech he knew this was the line that always scared them, "I will turn you into your worst enemy before I can turn you into the man you want to be."

Spinelli looked at him hesitant, his biggest fear was that he'd hurt someone he loved, he only hoped the wise man meant in other terms.

"…And I know a lot about you Damian," Spinelli's face became surprised, "Not just from Mr. Morgan or from your file, but you have a lot of growing up to do," he leaned in seeing Spinelli was a little offended.

"And you can grow up without changing who you are in here," he pointed to Spinelli's heart, "You can and there will be a point in this where you will doubt yourself and that's what I'm here for," he softly smiled, "I'm here to bring the confidence out in you."

"The next thirty days are going to be the worst and best days of your life and you'll see why," he looked at Spinelli who had the same look as all his previous patients did.

"Now, pick up that weight," he motioned to him and just as Spinelli began to touch it, Mickey interrupted, "Oh and one more thing, no doctor's prognosis is final. I firmly believe that nothing is impossible, if you put your mind to you, if you say you want to get better, you will it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when."

-

"She still in there?" Spinelli asked sitting in the wheel chair, too tired, too much in pain, to walk anywhere.

"Yes," Leyla smiled, "She's been asleep for the past two and half hours we didn't disturb her."

Spinelli took the white towel in his lap and threw it over his shoulder, "Help me up?" He glanced up at her.

"Of course." She helped him to his feet "He worked you pretty hard."

Spinelli glared at her, "There are no words to explain."

Leyla slightly laughed at his expression, "Okay we'll check up on you in a few hours."

He nodded glancing away from her to the window where as soon as Leyla disappeared down the hall he limped to door and slowly opened and closed it.

As he neared the bedside he watched her figure peacefully sleeping, so content that he didn't want to take the chance of disturbing so instead of kissing her or joining her, he sat in the chair closest to her bedside and watched her.

Sitting in the chair he wandered his fingers to his lips where he thought about what the man, the wise man said.

_I will turn you into your worst enemy before I can turn you into the man you want to be._

He was scared before, but now he was petrified. Some people can't forgive and forget, would she be able to do so even though he had done so many times for her? How the unknown tortured him.

He knew now what he had had to do to prevent himself from hurting her, their relationship and any future they might have, he'd have to make it extra clear to his physicians to his nurses that Maxie Jones never know his whereabouts.

She rolled over to see him staring at her, "How was it?"

"Just as I expected," he said blatantly.

"Real descriptive Spinelli," she looked at him in the dark to explain a little more.

"Go back to sleep," he sweetly motioned.

"I'm not sure if I can," she leaned up from bed motioning him to join her.

"No, the Jackal smells," he playfully motioned her to go back to sleep.

"I don't care, I missed you," her hand eagerly squeezed for his.

He playfully laughed, "The jackal would love to get up and sit and in that comfortable bed, but he's positive he can't move."

"So it was hard and painful and…"

"And…" He slowly pushed himself up from the chair to collapse to the bed.

"Oh how I missed this bed," he laughed sighing in relaxation.

"And what about me?" She leaned over him, "Did you miss me?"

"More than you know," he grinned placing his hands on his chest.

She giddily smiled leaning into kiss him, "How does that feel?"

He yawned looking away from her, "I'm sorry Maximista, I'm so tired that I think I," he yawned again, "Need you to do that again."

She nodded at how funny he was, "You know I can't wait till I need you to take care of me…" Because she'd definitely give him a run for his money.

He chuckled, "Blonde one you are…"

"Shh…" She leaned in gently kissing his lips again, "Um Spinelli."

"Yes Blonde one," he smiled staring up at the ceiling trying to relax.

"Um do you think it's possible that now that I've said hi to you and kissed you that you could go take a shower?"

He laughed, "I told you."

"Yeah well," she rolled her eyes turning to him waiting for him to say something, but then realized he was asleep, "So about that shower."

--

LOL the ending. So I'll hopefully have an update within a few days. Review, tell me what you think of this new character and of the Spinelli and Maxie argument.

Thanks for reading! Review!


	12. I'll stand by you

A/N: Hey! Sorry it's taken so long to get this update out, but with the way it was written I couldn't exactly split the chapter up, but it's extra long to make up for the wait. This chapter like I mentioned was written differently. It starts off with Spinelli and Maxie talking to their respective friends, Spinelli in the hospital, Maxie at home and they reflect on the day's events. They switch on and off point of views which is broken up by a dash, you know you're in a flash back because it'll say "General Hospital, (wherever they're at in the hospital" followed by the theme of that particular flash back. This chapter shows the continue struggle Maxie and Spinelli have with one another as well as friendships growing while discussing the particular events. I would say this chapter is going to make you laugh, cry, get angry, be upset, smile and well it's got a lot of good themes to it. Please review, if you've never taken the time out to review please do so this time because the chapter is like three times as long as it usual is and I would really love the feed back. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 12

He was sitting on his hospital bed in his pajamas watching TV when he heard a knock, "The Jackal is not in the mood for visitors, go away."

However as son as the door opened, he changed his mind for he should have known there was only one person would knock, "Come in Stone Cold."

-

She walked to the front door in her pajamas wondering whom it could at 8pm, "Hel…Sam er Robin."

"Hey, you up for a little company?" Sam softly smiled.

"I brought ice cream!" Robin hung up the bag of goodies obviously implying a girl talk.

-

"Hey Spinelli," Jason stood in the doorway, "I know it's kind of late and all, but that plan of yours worked."

"It did?" He asked surprised for he had no idea if it would because Jason hadn't visited since that day almost a week and half ago.

"It did," a sweet voice echoed behind Jason.

Jason walked further in the room revealing Lulu in the doorway.

"Hi Spinelli," Lulu smiled feeling like she hadn't seen Spinelli in a while and she hadn't, even when she was here in Port Charles, she hadn't exactly been that friend that he so desperately needed now.

"Hey," he tried to smile, but really couldn't find the will to do so.

"Anyway," Jason interrupted, "I brought you something." He revealed Spinelli's laptop and handed it to him.

"Wow," Spinelli spoke with barely any enthusiasm, his separation anxiety wore off a long time ago, but the truth was that he just didn't care, it was only a computer there were more important things to life.

Jason glanced at Lulu both noticing that Spinelli had no particular connection or interest in his laptop, Jason knew of the earlier day's events, but Lulu didn't and the reality was they both didn't know what lied under the man before him, Damian Spinelli who was a man, not a boy anymore.

"Hey man," Jason joined him at his bedside, "How've you been?" He knew it was probably a stupid question to ask, but he felt if he put on a happy face that eventually he would too.

"Stone Cold if it's okay by you, I would prefer to just be alone right now." He looked down at the bed avoiding either ones glance.

"Spinelli," Lulu softly smiled joining him on the opposite side of his bed.

"No please," Spinelli frowned not wanting to discuss what happened earlier, he could feel a tear creeping from his eyelashes.

"Spinelli," Jason raised his kind gentle voice, "Elizabeth told me what happened."

"Great." He sighed letting his hands hit the bed in frustration.

-

"So what are you two here for?" Maxie walked away from them after letting them in to the house.

"Well," Sam looked at Robin as they followed from behind to the living room.

Robin watched her sit on the couch watching the news that was just reporting the charges on Lulu and Johnny being dropped, "Guess his plan worked."

She glanced at them who were confused, "Spinelli told me he had this plan to get them free to protect us all four of us," she sighed, they were such an odd quad, all four of them completely different, complete opposites.

Robin and Sam joined Maxie on either side, "Hun we know what happened."

"I don't want to talk about it, it's a long story," Maxie turned the TV off attempting to get up from the couch when Sam grabbed her hand, "That I heard has a happy ending."

Maxie glanced at Robin feeling her sympathetic touch, "What do you guys want? You want me to tell the entire story?"

"Hun we just thought you could use a little company that's all, if you don't want to talk about what happened then that's fine." Robin tried to get her cousin to open up, to find a way to not be so bitter.

"Fine, I'll tell you, it's really nothing dramatic, okay," she fell back on the couch, "It started around noon that's when Spinelli told me he was supposed to have his therapy session."

_General Hospital, floor 2, the lie_

"Leyla?" Maxie asked as she walked onto the floor seeing her chatting with Nadine.

"Maxie," she smiled while cringing.

"Hey, um, not trying to tell you how to do your job, but shouldn't you be with Spinelli getting him ready for physical therapy?" Maxie innocently suggested.

"Um he already had his physical therapy for the day," it the other days it had been true, but today was the first lie of many that Spinelli wanted them to tell.

"He did?" Maxie looked down at her watch wondering if she had messed up the time but it was noon, she was right on time.

"Yeah, they had a spot open early this morning and he eagerly jumped in," she grinned hoping Maxie would go away or leave or stop asking questions.

"Oh well, is he in his room right now?" She could at least say hi.

"Yes," Nadine murmured even though she wasn't exactly sure where he was, the last time she saw him, which was an hour ago, he was in the gym.

"No," Leyla raised her voice trying to overcome Nadine's voice.

"Well which is it?" Maxie looked at them while laughing wondering what was going on and why they were acting so strange.

"No," Leyla spoke up, "No he's getting x-rays done and such."

"Okay well I'll just wait in his room," she began to walk passed them, but Leyla stopped her, "You can't."

"Why not," Maxie crossed her arms getting annoyed now.

"Because," Nadine spoke up walking off the nurse's station, "Because the truth is…"

Leyla glared at her not to do this, but Maxie glanced away from Leyla to Nadine, "What's going on?"

Nadine thought it was wrong to lie to her like this, "The truth is that Spinelli is in therapy right now and he's had us lie to you all week to keep you from seeing him," that was only half the truth.

Maxie looked at Nadine confused, "Why would he do that?"

"Because he's trying to protect you," Leyla stammered out wondering why Maxie was always so blind by Spinelli's decisions.

Maxie humorously laughed, "What floor is he on."

"Eight," Leyla thought she could try to throw her off and gain Spinelli some time or something.

"Five," Nadine stated like her answer was correct.

Maxie glared at Leyla wondering why she was purposely trying to separate her from Spinelli.

"Thanks Nadine for being so honest," Maxie glanced at Leyla as she turned to the elevators.

Leyla rushed in front of her, "Take it from me you don't want to see him."

"You know you have been doing this ever since he was in the hospital," Maxie pushed the button waiting for the elevator come up.

"What?" Leyla looked at her wondering what she was suggesting.

"You have your eye on Spinelli, you want him all to yourself that's why you don't want me to see him," it was the only reason that seemed logical to her.

Leyla rolled her eyes crossing her arms as if she couldn't be anymore wrong, "Mr. Spinelli and I are just friends and as a friend to him, I'm telling you that if you see him, you will regret it."

"No, I'll regret it if I don't," the elevator opened and Maxie purposely hit her shoulder as she walked in.

Leyla huffed wishing Maxie could look pass their jealousy over each other and just listen to her.

Maxie looked at her in disbelief as she ran into the elevator, "Look you can be with Spinelli all night, I haven't been able to sustain a conversation with him for days," Maxie pushed the button to floor five.

"And why do you think that is?" Leyla looked at her to open her eyes, "Why do you think that every time you came by this week he's been sleeping?"

"He's tired," she looked at Leyla as if he wasn't trying to push her away, there wasn't some ulterior motive behind his actions, "I knew it was going to be hard on him that's why I want to be there for him."

The elevator doors opened and Leyla walked out with her, "Maxie please believe me when I say you don't."

Maxie stopped in the middle of the hallway, "You know I understand that you care about Spinelli especially after he beat up a guy for you, bless his heart, but you don't know him like I do. So I'm going to try to be nice here and tell you thanks for the warning, but I can handle whatever it is you think I can't."

"And," Maxie suddenly remembered that Leyla was supposed to be his physical therapy assistant, "Why aren't you in there with him?"

Leyla put her hands on her hips, "Because he fired me."

"Oh," Maxie didn't expect this-her answer.

"He didn't mean to do it, he doesn't mean anything by it, he's tried to apologize about hundred times to me, but I was in there with him and he snapped, he yelled at me and then asked me to leave and to never come back."

"When was this?" Maxie quietly asked as if some part of her actually believed what she said.

"A few days ago," Leyla looked away from her seeing in the corner of her eyes Maxie's face that was completely taken off guard by so much happening with him that she didn't know of.

"Look it's your choice," Leyla looked up at her, "but he already feels guilty about hurting me, lashing out at his coach who just makes him work harder, he doesn't need to feel guilty about hurting the woman he loves," Leyla immediately cursed herself for saying such words.

Maxie glanced up at her trying to understand what was just said, she knew Spinelli loved her, she remembered that confession on the docks very well. Even though they hadn't discussed said confession, she knew that he cared about her but hearing it from someone else was…a little uncomfortable? Weird? Or just right?

Leyla pointed to the direction of the gym, "Whether he wants to admit it or not he is terrified."

"That's why I need to be there for him, to tell him he has nothing to be scared about."

"But he won't look at it like that," she honestly looked at Maxie who didn't understand so she explained, "We love Spinelli for his boyish looks and sweet words and gentle behavior, we love him because he's not an egotistical jerk or a man out to prove something, but right now he's not that guy," she pointed at the gym once more, "He's a man with a really hurt pride who is feeling things that make him feel bad about himself."

She might have been right about that, but Maxie remembered the last conversation, the last wholehearted honest conversation she had with him and he was not the man Leyla spoke of.

"I'm begging you for his sake, for yours, the best thing you can do is stay away from him, doing so isn't a sign of betrayal Maxie, it's not," Leyla tried to explain to her but she seemed less than convinced.

"Thank you for being concerned, I'm sure Spinelli would appreciate it and I…I do to," Maxie was about to say something else, but Leyla's pager went off, "I have to take this, but I hope you do the right thing."

Maxie watched her leave and then looked back down the hall where she saw the sign _Physical Therapy Nest._

-

Lulu squeezed Spinelli's hand, "Oh Spinelli, what did you do?"

"Something unforgivable Lulu," Spinelli wiped his hand through his hair.

Jason sighed leaning back in the chair, "Maxie knows you're under a lot of pressure and pain and maybe I should get you another trainer, I thought you wanted to get well as soon as possible so that's why I hired him."

"I do," Spinelli looked at him, "And it's not Mickey, he's the Rocky Balboa of all trainers, he's the best, but what happened isn't his fault it's mine."

"It's not your fault," Lulu tenderly touched his hand thinking back to Lucky and his addiction and the people he hurt.

"Don't make excuses for me," Spinelli removed his hand from hers, "Just because I'm in pain doesn't mean what I did was okay."

He folded his hands into his face, "I was an hour into the workout, Mickey was pushing the Jackal like normal, I was lifting weights and having a really hard time with it."

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, Eye of the tiger_

"Do you want to quit!" Mickey screamed in his ear, "Do you?"

"No," Spinelli clenched his jaw lifting the bar.

"What?" Mickey looked into his rear vision, "I couldn't hear you?"

"No!" Spinelli shouted erratically breathing.

"Then prove it!" He shouted, "Come on kid!" Mickey walked in front of him helping him left the bar, "Come on Damian we've been doing this for a week now, one…two…there we go." Mickey grinned as Spinelli began to really use the muscles that he had re-established in his arms.

"Slow and easy, this isn't a contest," Mickey informed him once again.

"But it hurts."

"That's the point," Mickey looked into his eyes, "You need to allow a full minute before challenging the muscle, slower now."

Spinelli sighed in annoyance as Mickey once again began to give him the speech about pain, "Pain is your friend."

"Pain is your ally, it will keep you awake and angry!" Mickey shouted while helping Spinelli lift the bar, "six..."

"It will remind you to get the job done!" He stared at Spinelli who was beginning to have trouble again, "It will remind you of what is important in your life and that you need to get home!"

"Mick…" Spinelli looked at him clenching his jaw.

"Finish the set, eight…nine…"

"I can't," Spinelli sighed as he brought the bar up to his shoulders, really feeling the pain in his shoulder intensify by the second.

Mickey flipped, "You what!"

"Nothing," Spinelli changed his mind remembering the last time he said he couldn't do something.

Mickey put his hands on his knees, "Are you quitting Mr. Spinelli?"

"No," Spinelli hated hearing this lecture again, "No sir."

Mickey motioned to his ear where Spinelli shouted, "No sir!"

"Good!" He looked into his eyes, "I know this hurts!" He watched Spinelli hesitantly lower the bar down and the slowly lifted it up, "Boy I served in a lot of wars and I got shot a lot of times, I have gone through this pain!"

"Ten," Mickey quietly shouted, "Count my boy it helps."

"E-le-ven," Spinelli lifted the bar back up closing his eyes, "Twel-ve."

"Good, thirteen," Mickey smiled, "We're almost there."

"AH!" Spinelli shouted in agony like he had been the entire time, "Four..."

"Teen," Mickey finished his syllable watching Spinelli lower the bar, "Come on, one more and then we're finished."

Spinelli clenched his jaw using everything he had in him, "AHHH!" He moaned as he slowly brought the bar up.

"Come on push yourself!" Mickey yelled as he walked behind Spinelli, "Finish the job!"

Spinelli brought the bar up to his shoulders, his face red with fury pushed to its limit.

Mickey leaned over his shoulder, "Feel the burn. It feels good doesn't it?"

Spinelli wandered his eyes to him like he was crazy, there was nothing about it that felt good, "Su-rreee."

"Lower it nice and…" Mickey heard the hard clunk on the floor.

"Spinelli!" Mickey hit him in the back of the head, "You can't just drop the bar you're going to break your foot!"

"Sorry sir," Spinelli said as he sighed taking a deep relaxing breath.

"Yeah, yeah," he walked near the bench grabbing him a towel, "Here!" He threw it at him, "Five minute break today."

Spinelli looked at him wondering if he heard right, "The Jackal deserves a whole five minutes?"

"Yes Damian," Mickey stressed the man's actual name, "You put good effort in today."

Spinelli smiled feeling proud of himself, "Thank you wise one."

"Wise one?" Mickey gave him a weird look.

"Oh sorry," Spinelli rolled his eyes, "thanks Mickey." Spinelli corrected himself as he wiped his face of sweat.

"Nah I like Wise one kid," the short man patted him on the back before turning away from him to get the next activity ready.

Spinelli nodded silently laughing at him before walking over to the bench and grabbing his orange flavored Gatorade. Unscrewing the top off he took a few sips before hearing the man grunt towards him, "Give me that." He whisked it from his hands.

"You know back in my day all we had was water, here." He shoved a water bottle in his hand.

"Sir Gatorade has proved to be…"

"Full of sugar," he walked away from him throwing the drink away.

"You are so…" Spinelli wanted to say old, but the man looked at him to watch his words carefully.

Spinelli decided not to test him and instead looked back down at the water bottle, "Nothing wrong with H2O."

He took a few sips before squeezing a portion of the bottle over his head letting the ice-cold water drip down his sweaty droopy brown hair and his stinging back and shoulders of hotness, "What are you doing!" Uh oh.

Spinelli opened his eyes quickly jerking his head to his trainer who looked like he was about to have a heart attack over nothing, "This isn't the place to take a shower!" Mickey yelled stopping in front of Spinelli who was just startled.

"God I can't leave you for two minutes!" He took the bottle from his hand, "Here," he gave him another one, "Drink it!"

Spinelli glared at him in almost the same annoyance as the man who walked to the back of the gym. Turning away from the man he took a sip from the bottle where as he arched the bottle down from his lips to his chest, he saw her, looking in through the window, he saw her staring at him.

-

"I had been watching him since before he dropped the bar," she looked at Sam and then Robin, "I had seen this old man who looked as old enough to be in one of those old people homes."

Sam silently laughed, _old people homes_, it cracked her up.

"And he was just yelling at Spinelli over and over again which didn't seem to help Spinelli it just made him more furious and I almost wanted to barge in there and ask him to stop being so tough on him."

"Maxie," Sam gently touched her arm, "That's how it works though."

"Well I know, but he just looked so miserable, it was killing me," she looked at Robin feeling as though she was reliving the entire moment.

"What happened next?" Sam asked wanting to move on.

"Well he dropped well more like threw the bar down which completely irritated the old man which I don't know why, he should totally expect Spinelli to do that because obviously Spinelli couldn't lift it and…"

"Maxie," Robin playfully touched her shoulder, "Hun slow down."

"Yeah," Sam agreed, "You're talking like warp speed Spinelli."

"Sorry," she laughed, "So anyway it looks like they're taking a break and Spinelli begins wiping the sweat off his face and chest which was firmer then I remembered when we were together and…"

"Whoa," Robin put her hand up for her to stop where she's at, "When you say together…" She gestured her fingers trying to put together the underline meaning of her words.

"Oh," Sam interrupted with a grin, "They hooked up Robin."

Robin's face turned electrified, "Why didn't you tell me!"

Maxie rolled her eyes pretending to wonder what the big deal was, but inside was just excited as they were, "Because we got together sort of right after Anthony kidnapped me and…"

"Let's go back to the sex thing," Robin could learn the reasons they hooked up later, "How was it?"

"Ooo good question!" Sam high fived her, "So yeah how was he?"

"I'm not gonna tell you guys," Maxie got up from the couch wanting to avoid this discussion and get back to finishing the ridiculous story.

"What!" Robin looked at her to get her but back down on the couch, "You can't just stop there!"

"Yes I can!" Maxie looked at them disappearing into the kitchen.

Sam looked back at Robin, "I'm guessing it was pretty good."

Robin winked in agreement before they both heard Maxie yell, "I heard that!"

Maxie returned from the kitchen with a bowl of barbeque chips, "So anyway…"

"No…No…No," Sam put her hand on Maxie's as she sat down, "You have to tell us."

"It's driving us crazy," Robin insisted and it was.

Maxie looked at them where they both shouted at the same time, "How was it!"

"How was what?" Mac asked walking through the front door.

"Oh nothing dad," Maxie rolled her eyes completely thankful that he hadn't heard anything.

Mac walked into the living room where he stopped to see the three of them obviously having some slumber party, "I don't want to know."

"That's what we thought," Maxie grinned wanting him to hurry upstairs.

He eyed Maxie and Robin and then stopped hassling them, "Okay have fun ladies," he ran up stairs where as soon as they heard the door shut Robin and Sam glared at her.

"Okay, okay," Maxie rolled her eyes like this was stupid, but she couldn't wipe the smile on her face, "It was sex. It was awkward I mean if I had let him undress me we would still be waiting to have sex," she chuckled before softly sighing, "But no though he was sweet, he was gentle and he was nervous, but excited nervous like I was."

Robin glanced at Sam, the two coming up with the same conclusion, it wasn't just sex.

"And I don't know, I just remember feeling really scared and he comforted me," she giddily smiled, "He just made me feel alive, he told me he'd protect me and I believed him…"

"So he rocked your world basically?" Sam playfully grinned.

Maxie didn't know how to respond, "I don't know I guess, I mean I don't know." She looked at Robin really having no idea, but couldn't stop laughing as if the answer was 'yes', "I mean all I know is that I needed him and he was there for me and it was just…"

"The best night of your life?" Robin finished her sentence knowing it was true.

"Well no, the best night of my life was him coming back to me after being dead for ten minutes, that was the best night of my life," she knew that for sure.

"Okay then it was the second best night of your life then?" Robin corrected herself like it didn't really matter if it was the best or the second or the third as long as the night, the event in itself was great.

"I guess."

"You guess?" Sam question, "It sounds like this guy made mind blowing sex to you and you guess?"

Maxie burst out laughing, either one of them not holding back at all, "Guys it's complicated, it was great, it definitely was, but I don't think it can ever be again."

"And why not?" Robin looked at her like this made no sense.

"Because if you haven't noticed every guy that falls in love with me dies or in the rare exception of Lucky, gets hooked on pills."

"Oh Maxie," Sam rolled her eyes leaning over to grab a chip, "You can't seriously be denying yourself love because you're afraid it's going to kill him."

"Um it almost did," she wondered how they could forget about the last weeks events.

"Maxie," Robin spoke seriously, "Come on now."

"You know I think we're getting too far off topic," she could see what they were doing and she wasn't about to do this now.

"How is that?" Sam looked at her, the topic was Spinelli.

"Because, because I just said so," she pouted looking away from them to grab a few chips, "So where was I?"

"Spinelli is on a break…"

"Oh right," Maxie leaned back on the couch, "So he's taking a break and after he wipes the sweat off his face and chest," she giddily smiled again like it was hottest thing she had ever seen, "He begins drinking his favorite orange Gatorade which he got two sips out of before the old humpback of Notre Dame takes it from him and gives him a water bottle," Maxie slightly laughed remembering Spinelli's priceless expression.

"And so like most typical guys he takes a few sips and then drowns his hair in the water and the old man waddles back barking at him and I only wish I could have heard what he was complaining about," she paused putting a chip in her mouth, "So…" She crunched on the chip, "Spinelli takes another water bottle from him and begins drinking it when he sees me."

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, It's been a while_

Maxie sweetly smiled seeing him notice her and before even hesitating she walked into the gym where Spinelli slowly walked towards her.

"Hey," she asked with her hands nervously clasped together, she didn't know why she was so nervous, she didn't know if it was the sweat beating down his chest, his muscles that were flexing or just Leyla's warning, but whatever it was it had her heart beating so fast she wondered if he could hear it because she certainly thought she could.

"Hey," he softly smiled back not able to show annoyance that she had some how found him.

"How are you doing?" She shyly asked.

"Um okay," he grabbed his hurt shoulder, he didn't know why he felt the need to.

"Damian!" He heard the old man's voice from the back, "Are you grabbing that shoulder of yours?"

"NO!" He quickly whisked his arm away.

"You better not be!"

Spinelli cursed the man under his breath rolling his eyes as the old man threatened to make him work harder, "Old man."

Maxie chuckled, "He seems…"

"Great," he uttered without realizing what he said, "I mean," he looked over his shoulder at the old man and then back at Maxie who was just confused, "He's just being grumpy, but you, you seem great, better."

She slightly laughed crossing her arms, "Yeah. I mean I still don't know what came over me, but I'm feeling better."

"Good, good," he smiled, "Hey I'm sorry I haven't exactly been around."

"No," she tenderly touched his arm not wanting him to worry about it, "It's okay."

He gently smiled at her nodding no, "No it's not."

She sweetly smiled back not sure what to say in return, she was beginning to see what Leyla was taking about, "I got your flowers."

"Oh yeah?" He smiled, "I hope the fashionista didn't mind…"

"No Kate didn't mind, I think it was because you sent her flowers too," she laughed like it was very clever of him.

"Well," he blushed.

"I liked them," she softly smiled, "Spinelli I _really_ liked them and I don't know if I ever really told you my favorite flower…"

"Daisies," he quietly interrupted, "We were…I think if the Jackal remembers correctly we were sitting on the Commissioner's couch and Patrick came to see Dr. Robin to apologize for being an egotistical jerk," he paused laughing with Maxie, "That's right!"

She then finished the story, "And I couldn't believe how unoriginal he was bringing her red roses and I said if he was really sorry, that a real man brings real flowers, her favorite ones and I said I per-son-ally prefer…"

"Daisies," he said over her quiet hushed tone.

"I can't believe you remember that," she smiled completely taken back by the memory from at least four months ago.

"The Jackal remembers everything the blonde one says," he slowly, but softly smiled in the smile that was specially reserved for her.

An awkward silence fell between them until they jumped at the old man's voice, "Damian!"

Spinelli turned away from her as Mickey's voice seemed closer and he was right for Mickey marched on over with a white shirt in his hand, "Damian will you get dressed! What do you think this is your bedroom?"

Spinelli looked at him confused while taking the shirt from him, "Uh…."

"I swear," Mickey glanced at girl while laughing, "First he takes a shower…" He joked while Spinelli through the shirt over him.

Mickey glanced away from Maxie, "Damian, you ready to get back in there?"

"Yeah," Spinelli looked away from her where he realized he should probably introduce everyone, "Oh um," Spinelli became nervous, "Mickey this is Maxie Jones."

"Oh the friends with benefits girl?" Mickey smiled taking in a little pleasure humiliating him.

Spinelli jerked his head back to Maxie who looked surprised, "I didn't say that."

"He's right," Mickey admitted, "Nurse Mir said that."

"No she didn't," Spinelli nervously blushed looking back at Maxie, "She didn't."

"Well she kind of did Damian, special friend doesn't go under girl friend, but it doesn't go under friend either so…" Mickey looked at him to make his mind up.

Spinelli put his hand on the old man's shoulder, "He's just joking," Spinelli looked into his eyes to cut it out.

"He's right, I am, I like to kid," he laughed before looking at Maxie, "Um are you here to chat or to help."

"Help," she nervously bit her lip, "I mean if that's okay with you."

"Sure," Mickey nodded, "I think I have a few activities you can help him in."

-

Spinelli looked up at Jason, "There's always a time in our session where we move away from the body building, from working the muscles in my shoulder to doing everyday tasks."

Spinelli glanced down as his hands, what weapons they were, "Sometimes they're harder than the actual workout itself," he insisted looking up at Lulu, who was intently listening to him, "Because these things that we do everyday, these simplistic movements that we associate with being so easy to do, we don't really take them for granted until we find ourselves unable to do them."

He rubbed his fingers over his hurt hand, rubbing the joints, the bones, the act itself didn't hurt, his hand didn't hurt like it did two weeks ago, no, Spinelli wasn't scarcely holding his hand because he was in pain, he was staring at it remembering how everything fell apart so quickly, he casually closed his eyes flashing back to how quickly he turned into the villain.

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, Beauty and the Beast_

"Ha, you still write like a chicken!" Maxie teased him as she watched him write stupid little notes to her, the exercise was to help Spinelli remember how to write.

Spinelli rolled his eyes, scribbling another note, "Well…" He slid the note over to her.

_You still write like a girl._

"I am a girl Spinelli," she looked at him, he always used the same rebuttal.

He slid another post-it forward.

_I know, that's the only come back I could think of._

She laughed before preparing herself to read the next note.

He thought long and hard about the next note, Mickey had been occupying himself with some of the other trainers, so the two of them had five more quality minutes together since she entered the place.

He had wanted to wait at a more appropriate time to confess his love, which she had yet to bring up from the shooting at the docks. He wanted to tell her when things were relaxed, when he wasn't hurt, when he could plan something romantic, but as he sat in front of her at a little kids table her glow couldn't keep him from scribbling his feelings on the yellow sticky.

"Damian," Mickey walked over as he was just about to finish writing the last letter.

"Yeah," he quickly hid the note crumbling it up in his pocket.

"Tea party?" Mickey teased him with the tray.

"Um," Spinelli glanced at Maxie like this was stupid.

"Or we could go back to weight training," Mickey innocently threatened, he wasn't actually going to put Spinelli back on the bench, but Spinelli didn't know that.

"No, that's okay, tea party it is," Spinelli grinned taking the tray from his hands, "So blonde one have you ever had a tea party?"

She laughed clasping her hands together, "Yeah all the time."

"Really?" He asked surprised for he could definitely imagine Georgie sitting around a table with dolls, but Maxie struck him for the girl who didn't give in to her imagination.

"What?" She wondered why he looked so surprised.

He laughed, "Nothing," he paused as he took the plastic Disney princess set off the tray, "So which princess are you?"

"Huh?" She asked distraught as she found herself thinking of Georgie and the fun they had growing up.

"Which one of these princesses are you?" He remembered vaguely from when he babysat Kristina for the first and last time that she talked about Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Ariel, Snow White and he knew there had to be more, but those were the only ones that instantly came to mind.

"Umm," she thought about it for a minute, "Um none of them I guess…"

"What?" He looked at her like she had to be one of them, "The Jackal doubts that…"

"Well I can't be Cinderella because I don't have an evil step mom," she paused for a second thinking about her mother, she could fit into that category, but she didn't have a sister anymore so no she definitely wasn't Cinderella, Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, "I mean that cancels out like half the girls."

"And I can't be Ariel cause I don't live in the ocean," she joked.

"No you don't," he smiled, "But there has to be one that you admired that you looked up to."

"Well I, I looked up to Georgie."

"Well who did fair Georgie look up to?"

"Belle," she smiled, "Which isn't surprising, Georgie was smart, loving, a compassionate person who cared about everyone around her and defended them no matter what, no matter what they had done, she stood by them."

"The blonde one is just the same," he insisted, smiling at her face of uncertainty.

"No I'm not," she looked away from him.

"Yes you are," he sweetly said, "Stubborn, but Belle looks passed the beast, she sees good in him despite how he looks on the outside and well the Jackal is often referred to as a freak by Mr. Corinthos Sir and well you looked passed this freak."

She was saddened by the way he called himself a 'freak', she leaned over to him touching his hand that was grasping the tea pot, "First, you're not a freak, a secondly Sonny is a jerk."

"The Jackal appreciates your kind words but."

"But there is no but."

Spinelli softly smiled before hearing Mickey's footsteps and looked away from her removing his hand from hers, "Yes wise one, this tea party the Jackal is supposed to be having with his blonde one, um well what in the heck kind of tea party is it supposed to be?"

"If you're asking me if it's supposed to be fun," Mickey glared at him, "Yes and no. The point of it is for you to accurately pour her some tea…"

"Here," Mickey removed from his back, some saltines, "I think you'll appreciate these."

Spinelli nodded yes and then turned to Maxie who was watching the old man with interest, "What is it blonde one?" He asked while opening the white plastic cracker package.

"What did he mean by you'll appreciate these?" She looked at him wondering if the old man was implying for whatever reason or if he was implying Spinelli which meant something was wrong.

"It's nothing for you to be worried about," he took a few crackers before sliding the package over to her.

"No thanks," she ignored his generous gesture and went back to the subject, looking up at him with concern.

"Maximista it's nothing, it's what the doctor told me to expect," he explained.

"And that is?" She looked at him while she grabbed a cracker, "What's going on?"

He smiled when she took a cracker, it made him want to laugh, "Nothing Maximista, the jackal's medicine is simply not making him feel very well so these help me from getting sick."

"Sick?" She grabbed another cracker, "Spinelli why didn't you tell me?"

"I could ask you the same thing remember?" He referred to her dizzy spell a week ago, where it had been obvious that she was under the weather and she didn't tell him anything.

"Spinelli," she glared at him not wanting to bring that up.

"Maximista I didn't tell you because I simply haven't seen you enough to trouble you with this," he noticed her take another cracker.

"Well…" She took her hand in his as she bit into another cracker, "I still wish you had told me."

"And what would the Maximista have done?" He rubbed his thumb over her hand.

"I don't know," she said weakly, looking down at their hands, "I just, I just can't wait until this is over and I can take care of you at home."

"Maximista you don't have to take care of me," he tried to look into her gaze.

She looked up at him, "I already worked it out with Kate and Mac said it was okay."

"The commissioner sir said it was okay?"

"Um yeah, you saved me remember, I think he can let the man who saved his daughter into his house," she sweetly smiled, "So come on."

"Alright Jackal accepts your kind offer," he smiled looking down to grab a cracker and noticed about half the bag had been eaten.

"Someone's hungry," he playfully joked with nothing behind it.

"Oh," she chuckled, "Sorry I'll reimburse you."

"It's okay."

"I've just been so busy I haven't had time to eat and when I do get the time I'm not really hungry," she bit her lip knowing he'd take that in as a sign that she wasn't better.

"Maximista, I thought we talked about this," he looked at her annoyed as he began to lift the teapot.

"I'm fine, I really am," she looked at him who wasn't convinced, "Spinelli."

"Max..." He paused as he noticed while pouring her a cup of tea that his hand was shaking, the hand of the shoulder of the arm that had been shot.

He stared down at his hand, never noticing it really shaking before, perhaps because whenever he ate or drink he always used his other hand, but seeing his hand uncontrollably shake began to more than just bother him.

She looked up at him wondering why he stopped talking and then she could hear the plastic teapot and cup clinging together. Seeing his hand shake she didn't exactly know what to say, if she offered to help him or excused what was going on he could easily turn on her and she had no idea what she'd do if he did that.

Mickey watched from a distance seeing the boy's hand shake just as he knew it would and it was then he heard his brother's voice, "You sure he was ready for that?"

"It's either now or later, eventually he has to push everyone away before he can let anyone in."

"Hmm," Dr. Bayard crossed his arms as he watched with his brother at the situation that was just getting ready to unfold.

Spinelli smiled pulling away from her cup to his own where his hand seemed to shake even more. He frustratingly motioned to put his other hand on his, but refrained seeing Mickey in the corner of his eye, watching him like this was a test. He set the teapot down with annoyance and then glanced up at her who was looking at him like he knew everyone around him was looking at him like a freak. He was being paranoid, but as he lifted his cup with his hurt hand and saw the liquid moving around without him able to control it, he threw the cup out of his hand and then shoved everything off the table onto the floor.

Mickey looked at Dr. Bayard, "That's why we use plastic."

Spinelli watched as the liquid spilled on the floor, but instead of reacting to clean it up, he just leaned his hand on his forehead trying to calm his sudden rage.

Maxie motioned touch him even though she was still flustered from what just happened, "Spinelli it's okay."

-

"So he completely freaks out," Maxie looked at Robin, "He completely explodes in a burst of rage and I try to tell him that it's okay that it's probably just the medication that he won't be like that forever."

"But," Sam interrupted, "But he didn't believe you did he?"

Maxie nodded, "No he didn't and things just got worse from there."

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, for better or for worse_

She got up from the chair where as she came around the table Spinelli folded his hands on his face. She knelt down in front of him where he removed his hands from his face, but wouldn't look at her.

"Hey," she touched his hand before cupping his cheek, "It's okay."

She looked into his eyes that were red with puffiness from tars in his eyes that he refused to let out, "Spinelli it's okay, alright?"

"It's probably just the medication," she explained to him rubbing his cheek.

But it wasn't the medication, it couldn't be because he stopped taking the pills days ago, no, his shaking was him.

She watched him turn away from her removing her hand from his cheek, "Go. I want you to go."

"No Spin," she touched his good shoulder, "I'm staying."

Mickey leaned off the wall looking away from his brother who disappeared into the back exit to prepare for surgery, "What happened?"

Maxie turned to him getting up from the ground placing her hands on her hips, "Oh like you don't already know."

Mickey pretended to be confused, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh sure," Maxie rolled her eyes, "You knew he was going to have trouble doing that."

"Maxie I'm a professional, this is how we do things." This is why family and friends aren't supposed to be involved.

"Oh by setting up your patients for pain?" She looked at him like this was unbelievable.

Spinelli turned to her, "Maximista, please."

Mickey looked down at Spinelli, "Come on, Jimmy will clean this up, let's move on."

"No," Maxie put her hand on Spinelli's good shoulder before looking up at Mickey, "Can't you see he's in pain? Can't you see that he needs a break?"

"He's had his break, the last fifteen minutes were wasted on you who distracted him," Mickey looked away motioning for Jimmy to come over.

Maxie turned to Spinelli who was getting up from the table, "Spinelli come on, you've pushed yourself too much, let's just go back to your room and…"

"No," Spinelli frowned at her.

"Spinelli," she looked at him like he couldn't be serious, "Come on." She put her hands on his chest, "Come on I'll make you feel better."

He looked down at her, putting his hands on hers, "I think you should go." He removed her hands from his chest and walked away from her.

"Spinelli," she looked at him hurt while Spinelli looked at Mickey, "What are we doing next?"

"Jimmy," Mickey motioned, "The lat pull, set him up."

Jimmy a forty something year old black man who was just as buff as Jason, nodded, "Come on Spin."

Spinelli looked at Maxie not wanting to hurt her, "Please Blonde one just go."

"Spin no," she looked at him not to do this, but he walked away from her to the lat pull.

"Ms. Jones," Mickey kindly tried to say her name.

"Don't," she snapped at him, "You have Spinelli believing you are some Mr. Miyagi some Rocky Balboa trainer, but you're not, you're an old man who is seriously going to hurt him."

"That's where you're wrong Ms. Jones." Mickey walked towards her, "You are the one that's hurting him, when you undermine me in front of my patient you put the patient at risk for being distracted for not listening to me, the guy whose going to get him back on top."

Spinelli put his hands on the bar and waiting for Jimmy to lock in the weight, "Remember nice and slow." Jimmy insisted as he stood to the side of the machine to spot him.

"Right," Spinelli smiled, looking towards the bar and slowly pulling it down trying to focus, _you need one minute before challenging the muscle again._

Maxie pointed at the old man, "Oh and putting little activities together to show him that he's a freak because he can't keep a cup full of liquid still is helping him?"

"You said it not me," he looked at her with his hands on his hips.

"Hey Spinelli," Jimmy raised his voice seeing Spinelli not focused on the exercise itself, "Focus."

"Sorry," Spinelli looked at him who pointed to look at the bar, "Three…four…"

Mickey could see Spinelli in the corner of his eye distracted, "Let's take this outside."

"No," Maxie crossed her arms, "I'm staying."

"Well darling, if you want to stay in my gym, you will walk with me outside and convince me why he can't do this without you," Mickey glared at her before walking to the door nearby swinging it open for her to walk through.

"Fine," she nodded her head like this was a waste of her time as well as his.

"So," Mickey let go of the door as she stood in front of him, "Why is it so important that you jeopardize his treatment and be in there?"

"First why would I be jeopardizing his treatment? Spinelli and I are best friends, he's seen me in my worst and has been there for me every time, I wouldn't be a good friend if I just sat back and let him go through this alone!"

Mickey laughed at this woman's blindness, "First you need to understand that crying on his shoulder and holding his hand while he lifts a weight that is eating him away inside are two different types of emotional distress problems."

"Maxie he is going through a character change right now," he glanced back in the window, "He is learning what his strengths are and what his weaknesses are and you and that other girl that was here, you two are weaknesses, family and friends are weaknesses in physical therapy conditions."

She nodded in disbelief, "I can help Spinelli."

"No you can't ma'am this is something you have to understand, you have lost this battle with him, you lost it the moment he got shot, he doesn't want nor does he need your help."

She turned away from him where he continued to talk only this time he was softer in delivering his point for he could see she was wiping away tears from her eyes, "It's not about betraying him or showing him good faith. If your relationship is as strong as you say it is then he knows that!" He walked in front of her looking up at her fragile face.

"Maxie, the simple act of knowing you want to be there is enough, I tell this to every patient's family, friend, spouse, girl friend," he looked at her obviously implying that she was the girl friend in this case, "I tell them this so they let me do my job."

He followed her gaze, "That's why this works so well because I'm not his friend, I'm not his parent or his sibling or someone that's going to hold him back from being the person he needs to be to get back to who he was."

He walked closer to her, "It works because I didn't know him before the shooting, I'm not emotionally attached to him which means I'm not going to hold his hand and tell him it's okay when it's not, I'm not going to make excuses for why he can't pick up a cup without shaking it, I'm not going to remind him of who he was because I don't know him and because I don't know him is why he listens to me, why he trusts me."

Maxie put her hand on her forehead, "I just don't understand why…" She paused unable to form the words.

Mickey looked up at her knowing exactly what she was going to say, "It's supposed to be hard otherwise nothing in this life would be worth anything if it came to us freely without pain."

He could see that he almost had her convinced that he almost had her from leaving the gym and never looking back until the door burst open, "He's dislocated his shoulder!"

She quickly glanced into the window of the door seeing Spinelli hold onto his arm where she heard the mumbling yells of his pain, "God damn it! Son of a…" He huffed, breathing rapidly as he leaned against the white wall of the gym before falling to his knees with his eyes closed wanting to cry it hurt so badly, "Oh gawd…."

"Spinelli!" Maxie shouted running in through the doorway with Mickey.

He looked at her horrified, "No…" He put his hand up to stop her from coming near him. Grabbing his shoulder once more he looked up at her as she stood just a few feet from the door, ten feet away from him, "Just go."

Mickey ran to him ignoring what was going on with them, "Let me see…"

"Not until she leaves," Spinelli looked up at Maxie.

"Spinelli," she looked at him begging him to let her in, but every time she tried to get closer his face grew tensed.

"Go, please," he looked at her with tears in his eyes, "Please Maxie, go before I say or do…" He looked away from her feeling the stinging grow every time he breathed.

"I'm here Spinelli," she bit her lip, "I'm right here just let me help you." She crept forward and his reaction startled her.

-

Spinelli glanced up at Jason, his eyes different, his eyes looking at them the way he looked up at her, "I snapped Stone Cold, I became the person I swore I would never be."

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, The Dark Knight_

"God damn it," he got up from his knees holding his shoulder, "What the hell is so hard about following a simple command? Huh? It's not Rocket Science Maxie, it doesn't take a fucking college degree or a high school diploma for you to leave when someone asks you to!"

"I know you _need_ me," she clenched her jaw trying to convince herself that Mickey was not about to be right.

"No, what I NEED," his mouth grinned grimily, "Is for you to stop playing the concerned friend," he stopped a few feet in front of her, "And listen to me when I say LEAVE, can you do that? Can you listen to me just this once?"

-

"I looked at him completely mortified," she slowly said with deep hollow emptiness to her voice, "I knew this wasn't him, I knew that as he yelled at me, I knew he didn't mean anything by it, if anything I could see he needed me more than ever," Maxie ran her hand over her face through her blonde curls catching the tears in her eyes, "But I was so shocked by the way that he talked to me which sounded so familiar to the way Lucky did when he was on the pills that I…" She paused closing hers for a moment, composing herself.

"It's okay," Robin touched her hand where Maxie soon felt Sam's touch.

"I was scared and I was hurt and I was just feeling so much that I couldn't move and that…not able to move or say anything, infuriated him, he was gone, Spinelli was gone."

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, Sticks and Stones make break my bones, but words will never hurt me_

"No you can't because Maxie does whatever Maxie wants to do, just like that day, I ASKED you NOT to leave the penthouse and what did you do? You left, you left and now I have to face the guilt every single time that I look at you I have to pry myself from wishing that I never saved your life."

She gasped, _he did not just say that_, she told herself, _no, he didn't just say that_.

"That is…" He evilly laughed, "That is how much pain the Jackal is in," he clenched his jaw together before losing his hideous humor, "He looks at you and hates himself because he wishes he had saved your precious life as someone who isn't your best friend who doesn't love you," he took a deep breath grabbing his shoulder while hunching over, the hostility in him taking over the sweet, kind and gentle man she once describe him to be.

He closed his eyes, huffing like he wanted to cry, but he could feel something rattling in his gym shorts, "Oh and let me not forget that while the Jackal is hurting internally he is also hurting physically!" He let go his shoulder grabbing the pills from his pockets, "Because these pills don't work!" He threw them at her with the top loose so the pills spilled everywhere.

-

"The look on her face Lulu," he grinded his teeth in disgust, "She was terrified and I knew it. I knew it and I didn't stop." He leaned back on the pillows closing his eyes while feeling Lulu's touch, "What kind of person attacks the person they care about most in this world? What kind of person says horrible things to the extent that I did? What kind of person throws things at her?"

"Spinelli you were in a lot of pain," Lulu slowly explained becoming just as emotional as Spinelli.

"And that gives me the right to abuse her?" He eyed her like of course it didn't.

Jason's eyebrows raised, "Did you…" He didn't have to finish his question; the look in Spinelli's eyes said it all.

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, pain has driven him mad_

"So please," he grabbed his shoulder, "Please just leave me be and never come back!" He looked down at the ground waiting for her to make a move, leave, say something, but as he looked up, he saw her mindlessly blinking at him, petrified.

"Get out." He quietly shouted taking his voice down a notch before raising it louder then he ever had, "GET OUT!" He stormed towards grabbing her arm.

His grip had been tight on her; he knew she'd have a bruise later, a memory of how he became the bad Jackal, the unhinged one.

-

"Did he hit you?" Robin instantly checked her out to see if she had any markings any signs of abuse.

"No," Maxie softly nodded, "He just grabbed me by the arm that was it."

"Maxie I'm sorry," Sam looked at her, "I really am I mean I didn't think he had it in him."

"Guys, this isn't Spinelli," she looked at Robin and Sam who acted as if this was who he always was, "He was hurting, in a lot of pain with medication that wasn't helping."

"That doesn't excuse it," Sam looked at her. She had been with a few guys in her time that thought hitting a woman was a daily activity.

"I'm not excusing it, but this is Spinelli we're talking about. Spinelli who's never violent, who's never hurt me before," she saw their glances as if she was right, she was, Spinelli was still a good guy.

"And I could tell as soon as he had me against the door that he was hurting, I mean really hurting like he knew what he had just done and couldn't bear to live with himself," she closed her eyes flashing back to the bittersweet moment that broke her heart.

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, Save Me_

She could hear his irrational breathing as they leaned against the door, the rage in him disappearing for a second, a glimmer of the real Spinelli coming to light. She looked into his blue eyes that she couldn't recognize anymore, a man torn, a man falling apart in front of her scared to death of the villain he just appeared as.

Behind those cloudy blue eyes of his was an apology, a deep sadness and willingness to break down, to let it all go. His forehead crashed into her shoulder and he silently sobbed for the way he let her down, for the way he let himself down in hurting the one person he needed most.

"Spinelli," Maxie softly cried wanting to catch him as he spiraled down the deep dark whole.

He felt her fingers stroke his brown locks, her lips pressed against is head, he felt guilty, unworthy of her touch, "No," he turned his face away from her ashamed of himself while whispering, "I'm not good for you." And like that he shoved her out the door refusing to be saved.

-

Spinelli looked up at Jason and Lulu with tears in his eyes, "How do you…how you make up for something like that?" He bit his lip feeling his warm tears cover up his dry cold words of the worst story he'd ever tell, "You can't, you just can't."

-

"So as timing would have it just as he threw me out Elizabeth came around the corner having just seen that and it was then that I began to put it all into perspective," she looked down at the carpet, "I finally knew or understood a little of what she had gone through with Lucky."

_General Hospital, hallway, Woman to Woman_

"Are you okay Maxie?" Elizabeth asked, but knew she wasn't okay.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" Maxie unintentionally bitched back.

"Okay forget it," Elizabeth turned away from her realizing that she had assumed wrong to try to be nice to her of all people.

"Wait," Maxie hated the way she took her frustrations out on her.

Elizabeth slowly turned around to see what the blonde wanted.

Maxie walked towards her, "I just want to say, that I get what you were going through with Lucky. I get it now and I really see now more than ever how wrong I was in messing up your marriage."

Elizabeth was taken back, "Um okay."

Maxie nodded taking her little words as an apology accepted and turned away from her wondering what to do or where to go.

"I take it that Spinelli's not doing so well?" Elizabeth sincerely asked.

Maxie slowly nodded crossing her arms with tears in her eyes, "He's made it his goal to push me away."

Elizabeth bit her lip, she felt sorry for her, "You want to talk about it?"

Maxie looked at her surprised, _she wants to talk to me, the woman who broke up her marriage?_

Elizabeth gently put her hand on her back, "Come on" and led her to the bench nearby.

"Tell me what happened?" Elizabeth had no idea why she was doing this, maybe it was a favor to Jason or maybe she was doing her one good deed for the day or maybe she was just talking to her woman to woman about an experience they now had in common.

"Well I showed up after finding out that he's been lying to me all week about when his physical therapy sessions have been, I didn't get mad at him, we just talked and he was genuinely happy to see me," she looked down at her hands clasped together.

"We were laughing having fun and then his stupid jerk of a trainer decides to bring over a tea set…"

"The old teapot trick," Elizabeth cursed.

"You know it?" Maxie looked up at her surprised.

"Yup," Elizabeth nodded, "He threw the teapot at me."

"Well Spinelli knocked the entire tea set off the table and he just threw his bottle of pills at me," she felt embarrassed talking to Elizabeth, the history with Lucky becoming a little overwhelming.

"What's he on?" Elizabeth hoped this wasn't Spinelli hooked on pills for that was the right behavior.

"I don't know something Ultram."

"Ultram?" Elizabeth looked at her wondering if she heard right.

"Yeah, he says the pills don't help with his pain or his inner struggle of hating himself for wishing he never saved my life," Maxie looked down at her hands gently rubbing them.

"Well no wonder he's in pain, Ultram on a scale of 1 to 10 has a pain relief of 3, it's used to moderate pain for say after rehabilitation, is there a reason they won't give him hydrocodone?"

"Dr. Bayard wouldn't prescribe it because Spinelli smoked pot a few times a year and a half ago and doesn't want to risk Spinelli getting…"

"Addicted, I see," Elizabeth nodded her head understanding the situation.

Maxie nodded her head in disbelief still, "And now he's dislocated his shoulder probably because of me."

"And how would you be blamed for that?"

"Because I'm a 'distraction'. His trainer took me outside to lecture me and instead of just leaving like he asked I pushed him to lose his temper and he grabbed me and…"

"That's when I walked in," Elizabeth slowly nodded understanding now, "Lucky grabbed me once."

Maxie looked up at her knowing this must have been when Lucky was heavily into his addiction.

"I told him I was leaving and he just wouldn't have it, I threw my wedding ring at him, grabbed my bag and he flipped. He grabbed me, threatened me and then threw me to the ground," Elizabeth frowned thinking back to how horrible the entire thing was, not just for her, but for Lucky too.

"Maybe if I hadn't just found out that I was pregnant that it all would have hurt less or I wouldn't have been so scared, but…" Elizabeth wiped a tear from her eye, "Well that was the past and well this is about you so…"

"I'm sorry," Maxie genuinely looked at her, "I really am sorry for what happened between Lucky and I."

"I know you are Maxie, I know." Elizabeth actually wanted her to stop apologizing for something that happened two years ago, "Back to you though."

Maxie nodded waiting to hear her advice, "You have to remember that Spinelli is not addicted to pills, he's just in a lot of pain and Lucky was the same way, he wanted to push everyone away, he wouldn't take any help from anyone, it's a pride thing."

Maxie annoying laughed because it sure was about pride, stupid pride.

"And," Elizabeth smiled at her, "You don't have to worry about the problems that Lucky and I had, you and Spinelli are friends," Elizabeth paused for a brief second remembering Maxie's confession, "Or in love whatever…" It didn't really matter because the point was that "You two aren't married having to worry about hospital bills or having some hot affair try to break the two you up," she innocently joked.

Maxie giggled, "No we don't."

"Right," Elizabeth smiled, "Spinelli will come out of this just fine and when he's back to his old self you get to reap the benefits of him trying to make it up to you, which isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"No it's not," Maxie smiled as the two were some how making peace with one another, odd this was.

Elizabeth's pager went off, "I've got to take this," she got up from the bench with Maxie getting up with her.

"Robin and Patrick need me," she looked up at Maxie, "But you hang in there." Elizabeth put her pager back on her purple scrubs, "And be remotely happy," she looked up at Maxie smiling, "That while this is happening that you don't have any kids like I did, that you're not pregnant."

Elizabeth's pager went off again, "I really have to take this."

"Well thanks," Maxie slowly nodded, "Thanks for taking out the time."

"Sometimes we all need a little help," Elizabeth faintly smiled before walking down the hall.

Maxie took a deep breath wiping her hand through her hair as she turned away from her, _and be remotely happy that…you're not pregnant._ She sighed in relief sliding her hand to her hip while her other rested on her forehead, _things could be a lot worse and they're not so why freak out. _

She walked down the hall not realizing that she had stopped right in front of the doors to the gym. She turned to the window seeing Mickey and Jimmy help Spinelli to an examination table. She crossed her arms worryingly staring at him who was so pale with exhaustion that he looked like he was about to pass out. She put her hand over mouth seeing Mickey rush to a desk picking up a phone and seeing Jimmy run back into the area with a first aid kit, something was terribly wrong, she could see it on his face and it was then that she knew what she had to do.

-

Spinelli looked up at Jason, "So the Jackal waited for his prognosis which he knew wasn't going to be good, whatever he did was bad not only because it hurt like nothing other, but Mickey was quite nervous…"

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy Nest, Good news is…_

"Okay, alright, no I get it brother," Mickey slammed the phone down, "Alright Damian." Mickey hastily walked over to him, "My brother is in surgery and can't leave to examine you, but from the way I described it, it sounds like out prediction was right, you've dislocated your shoulder."

"How…bad…" Spinelli took deep breaths wanting to know how bad it was going to hurt.

"You know I wouldn't like to you kid, it's going to hurt…a lot, but the good news is I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance thanks to Gecko." Mickey joked seeing Spinelli's face slightly amused.

"The wise one did not just crack a joke in my most dire situation."

"I couldn't help it," he grinned, "But there is good news."

"The suspense is killing the Jackal," Spinelli looked at him waiting for this good news.

Mickey chuckled, "The pain will go away as soon as I put it back in place."

"Oh what a relief," Spinelli rolled his eyes.

"Hey it could have been worse…" He insisted that he could have pulled the tendon, "Okay it's going to be quick, but painful so on the count of the three."

Mickey moved his hands to his arm when he remembered something, "Oh and I almost forgot…"

Spinelli looked at the wooden object in his hand that looked like a jumbo pencil, "What's this for?"

"To keep you from biting your tongue, grinding your teeth, just put it in your mouth," Mickey handed it to him.

"Okay," he looked at Spinelli, "You ready?"

-

"The Jackal was indeed ready, he accounted for the pain, the frustration, his surroundings, he thought he took everything into account, but as Mickey said the numbers the Jackal dreaded…" He paused with a look of frustration.

"Spinelli what is it?" Lulu looked at him wondering why he suddenly stopped.

"Well," he pouted, "Fair Lulu," he looked at her and then glanced to Jason, "Stone Cold, what the jackal doesn't understand is why, is why after I humiliated her, talked down to her, abused her, the Jackal doesn't understand why she came back."

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy, I'll stand by you_

"Three."

He felt her hand tightly squeezing his, her voice overpowering the agony, her eyes staring into his telling him she was in this for the long haul.

-

"I had no idea what to expect when I ran back into there," Maxie nodded like it was an impulsive move, "But I didn't care. I saw him in there and I just couldn't stay away."

Maxie glanced from Sam who nodded understandably to Robin who was crying, "So what happened?" Robin wiped her eyes with a tissue.

_General Hospital, Physical Therapy, love means never having to say you're sorry_

She felt his head fall to her shoulder, "I'm so sorry Maximista, I didn't mean any of it."

"Shh…" She rubbed his back as he sobbed, "I know. I know." She ran her fingers through his hair while looking at Mickey who backed away from them.

"It's okay," she kissed his cheek while hugging him, "It's going to be okay."

"Maximista?" Spinelli looked up at her, his eyes red with tears, "I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Spinelli, you never have to apologize," her frown formed into a smile.

Their eyes met, glistening in each others and then ever so gently they leaned in towards one another softly kissing each other like it was the first time.

-

Maxie smiled at Robin's joyful tears where she then wondered if Sam was just as moved by the story. Glancing at her Sam wiped the few tears in her eyes with her fingers, "It did have a happy ending."

Before Maxie could admit it Robin interrupted, "Damn hormones of mine."

-

Jason smiled while Lulu still comprehended the fact that they kissed, "You know why she came back Spinelli?" Jason softly smiled, one of the rare occasions that he actually showed happiness.

"Because she's a loyal friend who's feelings run deep for the Jackal?"

"If that's your way of saying that she loves you then yes," Jason nodded, he was still the same Spinelli, took forever to get to the bottom of the truth.

"So," Lulu looked up at him, "You and Maxie kissed." She needed to make sure she heard right.

"Fair Lulu, Maximista and I have intimately been together," he nervously gestured his hands.

"Like you and Maxie," Lulu couldn't even put the word together.

Spinelli goofily grinned, "It's called sex Fair Lulu."

"No," she gasped, "No Spinelli." There was no way he could be with her worst enemy, despite how they had each other's back, she and Maxie were not friends.

Jason looked at the two of them, "I'm going to leave you two together, seems like you guys need to catch up."

Spinelli nodded as Lulu just looked shocked.

"Oh and Spinelli, the doctors said you're being released tomorrow, I hired Leyla to take care of you and…"

"Actually Stone Cold," Spinelli nervously interrupted, "Maximista is taking care of me at Casa de Commissioners."

"Mac is going to let you stay at his house?" Lulu questioned, _what the hell happened when I left?_

"Yes, she's taking a few days off," he looked away from Lulu to Jason, "So thank you for the offer Stone Cold, but…"

Jason softly smiled, "Let me know if you need anything."

Spinelli assured him he would and then left the room where he looked back at Lulu who simply looked at him, "Spinelli how could this happen?"

"The Jackal senses Fair Lulu is upset…"

"I'm more than upset Spinelli, I'm…" She looked away, "Spinelli how can you be in love with her?"

Spinelli smiled, "I just am Fair Lulu, how can you be love with Johnny?" He turned the table where she looked at him and realized that she couldn't exactly explain her love for him just like he couldn't explain his love for her.

"Can the Fair Lulu promise to be nice to Maximista, can she promise that although she may not support my relationship with her just as the Jackal is not impressed with Fair Lulu's relationship with the Mob Prince, can Fair Lulu promise to be happy for the Jackal just as the Jackal is happy for her?"

"I guess," she sighed, "I'll be nice to her for your sake and for the sake that she helped Johnny and I."

"The Jackal appreciates it."

"Yeah well you helped Johnny and I, so I owe you and if the only way to make it up to you is to befriend Maxie then that is what I'll do," she touched his hand, "I'm glad your okay though."

"Eh, the Jackal is getting better each day, his shoulder is resting with three days off from training with Mickey," he sighed in relief.

"That's good I guess, this Mickey guy sounds like a tool."

"Oh he is," Spinelli nodded, "But I was actually wondering if Fair Lulu and the Mob prince don't have any plans um Saturday night, I was wondering if they would like to accompany the Jackal and Maximista to see Eli Love and the Saints in concert."

"Are you serious?" Lulu looked at him surprised cause that would actually be great.

"Yes, but the Jackal hasn't asked Maximista yet so if you could keep it quiet then…"

"Of course I can, um I'll let you know if Johnny is interested, thank you, but can I ask why?"

"Well seeing as the Jackal is your best friend and you are his, he just thought it would be great if he could get to know the mob prince and if…"

"I don't think Maxie and I will ever be friends," she honestly looked at Spinelli.

"Aw never say never Fair Lulu," he insisted, "I never thought that Maximista and I could be friends and look at us now."

She sweetly laughed, "Okay Spinelli, I'll put the effort in."

"And I will try to befriend the Mob Prince, I will even go as far as to call him by his actual name," he smiled, "Johnny right?"

"Yes, his name is Johnny and he's not that bad you know," she suggested.

"Oh the Jackal knows, the Jackal remembers working with him to rescue your fairness, he was much nicer than the crabby commando," he grinned.

She laughed once more amazed at how much she missed him, "Well it's getting late, I just wanted to see how you were and thank you."

"The Jackal appreciates the visit."

She got up from the chair and kissed his forehead, "Get well Spinelli."

"I will," he happily grinned saying goodbye to her where as soon as she left he couldn't help, but feel a certain weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

-

Maxie was sitting on the couch snacking on barbeque chips, it was almost ten o' clock at night and Sam and Robin had left her an hour ago, so it was just her watching Soapnet trying to catch up on all her favorite soaps.

She heard a knock at the door and wondered if it was Sam or Robin coming back to pick something up that they might have forgotten, but to her surprise it was Lulu.

"Can we talk?" Lulu looked at her knowing she probably wasn't the person she wanted to see right now, "I promise it won't be long."

"Sure, why not," she opened the door all the way and let Lulu in.

They walked to the living room where Maxie sat on the couch and Lulu sat in a sofa diagonally from her.

"So what is it Lulu, I have something I want to watch in ten minutes so," Maxie wandered her eyes to her.

"Um this won't take long, I just wanted to say that I know about you and Spinelli," she couldn't believe she was saying them in the same sentence.

"What about Spinelli and I?" Maxie looked at her not reading that Lulu knew they hooked up.

"I know that you and Spinelli slept together," Lulu couldn't help but want to laugh.

"Oh," Maxie became quiet wondering if Lulu was just here to put her down and tell her she wasn't good enough for him, "Listen Lulu…" She sincerely looked at her, but Lulu interrupted.

Her goal tonight wasn't to come here and yell at Maxie, she said she would try to be nice to her, befriend her and that's what she was going to do, "I don't know how I feel about this because Spinelli is my best friend and he's a great guy with a wonderful heart and you, you are not the ideal person I want to see him with."

For some reason that phrase, those words they actually hurt Maxie's feelings, why wasn't she good enough for him? She never cared about Lulu's opinion just like Lulu never cared what Maxie's opinion was of her yet at the same time both girls wanted to be accepted by one another for Spinelli's sake.

"However," Lulu looked at her unnerved, this was unchartered territory for her, "What you did for him today…"

Maxie looked up at her, she knew what she had done, she knew that outside of the bitch who stopped at nothing to ruin her life there was perhaps someone who was human.

"When you came back after the way he treated you, well I don't think I could have done that," Lulu honestly told her, she really didn't think she could have, "I don't think I would have been strong enough to walk back in there and…"

Maxie really didn't want to get into today's events all over again, they just reminded her of how emotionally strained she was, "So Lulu, what are you saying?"

Lulu silently was annoyed that Maxie interrupted her, but she let it go, nervously saying, "I guess, I guess I'm saying that I approve of," she looked away from Maxie saying under her breath, "of you and Spinelli."

"What?" Maxie pretended she couldn't hear her.

"I approve of you and Spinelli," she spoke a little louder, but still not making eye contact with her.

"I'm sorry what? Speak louder Lulu," Maxie could barely keep herself from laughing.

Lulu annoyingly jerked her head to her, "I'm okay with you and Spinelli being together!"

Maxie evilly smiled, "That's what I thought you said."

Lulu nodded her head in utter disbelief of her antics, here she was trying to make an effort and Maxie could care less, "Anyway, yeah." Lulu got up from the sofa ready to leave now.

"Not like we needed your approval," Maxie said just as Lulu walked passed the couch Maxie was sitting in.

Lulu turned to her, "You know just as I think we've made progress…"

"I know," Maxie slightly laughed, "I make you doubt that you and I could ever be friends."

"Ug _friends_," Lulu spoke with disgust, "That word just sounds so."

"Chummy, I know." Maxie looked at her the same way, having the same trouble with the word.

"Yes!" It was exactly what Lulu was thinking.

"Well," Maxie sighed trying to think of a compromise, "Maybe instead of being _friends_…"

Lulu joined Maxie on the couch, "We can just vow to get along for Spinelli's sake."

"And promise to stop bringing each others past up?" Maxie looked at her.

"As long as you promise to stop sabotaging me and not just with Johnny, but at work," Lulu paused, did she still have a job left?

"You're still working for Kate, I covered for you," Maxie looked away from her at the TV.

"You did? How did you manage that?" Her picture was only plastered everywhere as an escaped fugitive.

"Oh I told her that Johnny kidnapped you and that you were innocent, but I don't think she believed me so it's pretty much up to you now," Maxie looked at her trying not to show that she might have grown to like Lulu as an actual friend.

"Thank you I guess," Lulu looked at her trying to hide the very same thing, "So we have a deal?"

Maxie looked her, "Yeah."

Lulu stuck her hand out where Maxie looked at her like this was getting stupid, "We have to shake on it?"

"Um yes and I want to see your other hand," Lulu couldn't trust her to actually be loyal.

"Oh jeez!" Maxie showed her hand and uncrossed her legs where Lulu did the same thing, both girls revealing all their cards.

Lulu looked at her as she took her hand, "Okay, frenemies?"

Maxie rolled her eyes, "If you want to get technical Lulu than yes, frenemies."

They shook hands where Maxie made it very clear, "But we're not going to be friends."

"No of course not." Lulu assured her.

"Because this town needs…"

Lulu interrupted, "Two girls…"

"Who can't stand each other." Maxie seriously smiled, "We will vow to be friends…" Maxie cringed at using the word, "We will get along for Spinelli and stop our stupid childish games, but we under no circumstances are going to hang out together, go shopping…well," Maxie paused for Lulu could really use her fashion sense, "We'll see about that."

Maxie took notice of Lulu's not amused face, "But we're not going to gossip to each other about our lives or anything unless it pertains to Spinelli or whatever."

Lulu forcefully smiled, "You read my mind."

"Don't say that." Maxie looked at her, "Cause that sounds like something…"

"Oh right that two friends say, yes, no, well okay I'm going to go," Lulu got up from the couch, "Um good night."

"Good night Lulu," Maxie politely looked at her, "Thanks for stopping by."

"Yeah, no problem, I mean after you helped me with well you know I also wanted to come over here and thank you," Lulu was beginning to feel a vibe of friendship.

"Your welcome, now go Lulu before I regret the treaty I just made," Maxie could tell she was just as uncomfortable in her presence.

"Okay, yeah I'm going," Lulu scurried out of the house.

Maxie looked away from the door back at the TV, "I just keep getting softer and softer."

She looked up at the ceiling as if Georgie was watching, "I know Georgie, you don't have to send me a sign or anything I know you are probably laughing your head off that I've decided to band together with that twit and if it weren't for Spinelli I wouldn't be, but...But Spinelli has just weaved his way into my life and…now I don't know what I would do without out him and if pretending to like Lulu is going to make him happy then I'm going to do it because I would do anything for him, he's all I've got."

--

Wow that was long, but great right? As you can see I really couldn't have split the chapter up. Maxie and Lulu were pretty funny in this chapter, we had some cute Spixie scenes as well as some scenes that made us angry and sad. Look for more Maxie and Lulu bonding as well as Johnny to join the cast and be Spinelli's first guy friend besides Jason that is.

Next Chapter: Spinelli comes home, Maxie needs taking care of...And I'm not quite sure whether to involve the concert/double dating in the next. We'll see.

As always if you have any suggestions or you're confused or hey you want spoilers I'll be happy to give them to you! Thanks for reading and please REVIEW! Only takes a minute. Once again I appreciate the support!


	13. God gave me everything I want

A/N: So I began writing this chapter and after heading to the 18th page I decided to break it up because I wanted to make a clear distinction between the life SPinelli has now and before he finds out the Maxie might be...u know. Anyway this chapter is called "God gave me everything I want" aw yes the famous Mick Jagger song. LOL. Spinelli is about to get everything he ever wanted.

Chapter 13

Spinelli stood on the curb of the Mac Scorpio's house after just closing the passenger door to Maxie's car. He had taken the Stone Cold dress approach, blue jeans and black t-shirt and he actually wondered why he didn't dress like this more often, he felt cool despite having his arm in a sling and thinking about yesterday, he never thought it would be this hard being so close to her and not be reminded of what he had done.

He heard Maxie closing the trunk, which snapped him out of his memories and led him to grab his black laptop briefcase and brown envelopes that had been delivered to him this morning from the back seats of the car.

"Oh I'll get that!" Maxie quickly rushed over with his leather black bag in her hand.

"I'll trade you," he turned to her with the envelopes wanting the black bag in return.

"Spinelli I'm perfectly capable of carrying your bags."

"I know," he grinned, "But so am I." He insisted as he closed the car door.

"Fine," she annoyingly looked at him taking the envelopes, "Spinelli why did this stuff come to you at the hospital?"

"Well," he grabbed both bags in his one good hand, "The first envelope has our concert tickets." He waited for her to question what he just said.

"Our concert tickets?" She looked up at him, "They're your concert tickets."

"Yes," he smiled as he motioned they go to the front door, "But if you're not doing anything Saturday night which is tomorrow, a ticket is reserved for you."

She fumbled with her keys failing to give him an answer where suddenly she felt his hand on hers, in the two minutes she was taking to open the door he had put down his bags, "Maximista if you're busy or you just don't want to go, the Jackal understands." He most certainly did, yesterday's behavior even though it ended with a kiss was still no excuse for it.

"No I, I want to go," she smiled before finally getting the door open.

"Great, it's a date," he reached down for his bags where he saw her quickly jerk her head at him, "I mean like…Um why don't we just go inside."

She turned away from him feeling her heart beating fast _date?_ It's not that she didn't want to go on a date with him, she loved him, but it just sounded so weird to her not because he was weird, no, but she had never exactly gone out on a date with a guy who was her best friend or whom she was already in love with.

Spinelli bit his tongue, he knew he should have just waited, but he figured since she asked he my as well tell her his intentions and now he felt more awkward then he did in the car.

She turned to him as he walked through the doorway with his bags, his face was a nervous red as if her reaction had made him regret what he said, but normally when Spinelli regretted something he said, he quickly tried to explain himself, but this time he wasn't, making it harder for her to read him.

He walked into the living room with her following behind him, "Um…" He turned to her not really sure of where to go or what to do.

"I'll take your bag upstairs to my room," she took the bag from him and placed the envelops on the couch.

"Maximista's room?" He was a little surprised that Mac would allow that.

"Yeah," she smiled like 'duh', "I'll be right back."

He watched her run up stairs and then turned to the couch where he leaned his briefcase against the side of it and then sat down, _oh that's comfy _he sighed in relief where he decided to take his hand out of the arm swing and set it folded on the coffee table. "Oh that feels so much better," he carefully stretched his arm out letting it feel free.

Just as he heard Maxie's footsteps coming down the stairs and was about to look over his shoulder to smile up at her, his phone rang.

"Stone Cold?"

"Hey Spinelli," Jason looked up at the man standing in his office, "I know you just got home from the hospital and stuff, but…"

"How can the Jackal be of help?" Spinelli knew where this was headed.

"Well I need you to look up everything there is on Andrew Karpov," Jason looked down at a file in front of him, just when he thought things were going to get better, another threat came his way.

"Um okay," Spinelli looked around for a place for him to write the name down when he saw the envelops on the couch, "Andrew Karpov?" He grabbed the envelops and a pen on coffee table that was next to a crossword puzzle of People Magazine and began writing the name down.

"Yes, but there's not particular rush on this Spinelli, I mean if you have some free time…"

"Stone Cold I'll have a full report to you by tomorrow."

"Thanks-err" Jason paused hearing Maxie's voice on the phone.

"He will certainly not have that information for you tomorrow, how dare you ask him to work when he's still recovering!"

Jason rolled his eyes, "Maxie…" He pressed the arch of his nose, her voice irritating.

"No, he'll have it for you when he has it for you," she angrily hung up to see Spinelli's glare.

"Don't look at me like that," she put his phone in her pocket.

"Maximista the Jackal will need his phone," he looked at her to give it back.

"Not to talk to Jason, you need to focus on getting better, not doing his dirty work."

Spinelli looked at her a little insulted, "It's not dirty work."

She could see she had offended him, "My point is…" She sat next to him on the couch, "Is that I almost lost you…I don't know what I would have done if you had died and I had to go to another funeral, I can't keep doing that Spinelli, burying the people I _love_." She slowly glanced up at him, nervous about what she just said.

He reached for her hand, "Maximista, I'm not going anywhere especially after yesterday."

"Spinelli," she looked at him to stop blaming himself for what happened, "I forgive you."

"But I don't forgive myself, I hurt you and…" He looked away from her, "I treated you just like the unhinge one did and."

"Stop right there," she raised her voice where as soon as he glanced up at her she continued, "You are nothing like Logan and I don't ever want to hear you compare yourself to him."

She pulled herself closer to him, "You are the sweetest most gentlest guy I have ever met not to mention the smartest and as far as yesterday goes, you had a moment of weakness, a lapse in judgment and that happens to all of us…" She cupped his cheek, "Even the best."

"It still doesn't excuse it Maximista which is why I…I want to make it up to you, come with me tomorrow night to the concert," he decided to bring up the topic once again, taking a leap of faith that he wouldn't regret it.

She put her hands on his chest, "Spinelli you don't have to make it up to me."

"I do," he insisted before reaching for the brown envelope that was from the Saints singer, "Now…" He grabbed two tickets from the handful, "The Jackal has two tickets," he flashed them in front of him, "Two tickets to see two really great bands and if the Maximista does not want to accompany the Jackal as his lovely date then we can go as friends or the Jackal has plenty of tickets for you to attend with someone else, but he would be ecstatic if his favorite blonde one would do him the honor of letting him take such a beautiful and remarkable young lady out for a night of fun."

How could she say no to that? A sweet heart felt request full of promise and fun and his company, how could she say no to that?

"Um," she nervously looked up at him, "When you…" She paused, "When you say date do you mean as like…"

"I mean as in," his heart was beating faster then it ever had before praying he wouldn't mess this up, "I would attempt to woo you to be my girl friend in which by the end of the said date you would decide if you wanted me to be your boyfriend."

She smiled at the way he explained a date, it sure wasn't exactly the way she would have put it, but that's why she loved him, he was completely different from her, her complete opposite yet just like her in so many ways.

"May I make one exception?" She smiled leaning towards him.

"Of course blonde one because the Jackal has never really been on a date and he assumes that's how it works, but…"

She giggled interrupting his words, "No it is how it works." She pushed his hair out of his eyes, "But…" She leaned away once his hair was fixed and nervously, but sweetly looked at him as if she had wanted to say something like this for a while, "I don't see the need to wait until the end of tomorrow to decide whether I want you to be my boy friend."

"You don't?" He looked at her intrigued while trying to control himself from getting over excited.

"No," she softly smiled at him before looking down at his hand, "Spinelli…"

"Um," he looked at her, "Are you saying what the Jackal thinks your saying?"

"I might be," she nervously bit her lip hoping she wasn't embarrassing herself with her giddiness, "Spinelli…I need you and these past couple of weeks have proved to me that I can't just ignore what's been going on between us."

A small smile peeked on Spinelli's face, this was it, the moment he'd been waiting for.

"I…I want to be with you," she slowly admitted with every second that passed smiling more confident then the second before, happy that she finally told him what couldn't be said in the hospital.

"Are you saying you want there to be an 'us'?" He understood what she said, he understood perfectly, but for someone who had never had someone say that to him before, he needed a little more clarification that he wasn't losing his mind.

She slowly nodded, "Yes Spinelli," she looked at him sincerely feeling like there were a hundred butterflies in her stomach, this was a new leaf she was turning over, opening her heart for the first time in a long time for love like the love she had with Jessie. "I'm saying that I want to be your girl friend, I want there to be an us, I want to be with you."

He wanted to be cool, he could shout in excitement, go crazy jumping on the couch like Tom Cruise later, but in front of her he had to play like the sweet sentimental guy that could handle her confession without going all Jackal on her.

Taking her hand he smiled, "So that's a yes then for the concert."

She laughed unbelievably, "Yes!" She ran her fingers through his hair before cupping his cheek, "Yes…that's a yes Spinelli," she softly laughed before looking down at their hands.

"Good," he smiled raising his hand to her cheek, "Good."

She put her hand on his that was keeping her cheek warm and looked up into his eyes, "What's on your mind right now? What are you thinking?" She asked for he had been a little too quiet for the Spinelli she knew.

"I'm taking in this moment," he softly smiled wanting to remember the moment Maxie Jones finally looked his way.

"I want to remember your eyes," the blue eyes that shimmered like the ocean when the sun was setting.

"I want to remember your smile," the smile that was overwhelmed with happiness.

"I want to remember," he leaned in caressing her neck with kisses, "Your scent," the scent of orange blossoms.

He leaned away from her neck letting the fingers of the hand that cupped her cheek touch her blonde curls that were shiny and exuberant, "I want to remember your hair."

"But most of all, I want to remember you," he softly smiled at her seeing the tears in her eyes as if everything he just said was the most beautiful thing someone had ever said to her.

"You," he faintly mouthed before leaning into kiss her.

Where the confidence came from, where the words came from, where the ability to kiss her came from, he wasn't quite sure, but it was his head and his heart finally working together as one to create a perfect memory.

Barely able to separate her lips from his, she found herself pulling away just to breathe, breathe the feelings she had never felt before, at least all not at once. With butterflies in her stomach she felt flustered, nervous, scared and then she felt the feelings she had never felt before, light headed, hot but warm, a little nauseated, but overall glowing with happiness.

"Are you okay?" Spinelli asked getting worried by her look, he knew she wanted the kiss, but the look on her face made him nervous.

"Yeah," she put her hand on his good arm trying to pull all her emotions together, "I'm fine."

He looked at her like the phrase 'I'm fine' was no longer believable to him anymore, "You don't seem fine."

"I am," she quickly said trying to shake off whatever it was that was keeping her from enjoying this moment, "I want to be with you Spinelli. I'm not having any doubts or anything about what I just said."

"I know, the Jackal didn't mean us," he touched her cheek in concern where her face seem to get pale, she had that look just like she did in the hospital he realized as his searched hers.

The amount of attention he was placing on her made her uncomfortable, she needed to be alone for a few minutes to stop herself from feeling sick, "Are you thirsty? I'm gonna get us something to drink," she nervously smiled.

"Okay," he looked at her more concerned than ever as she got up from the couch where he instantly saw that she could barely stand, "Maybe you should sit back down."

She put her hand on her forehead realizing she moved to quickly and too suddenly from the couch.

"No it's okay," she looked at him, "I'll be right back." She insisted where as soon as she turned away from him and began walking she found herself grabbing hold of the arm of the couch.

"Spin," her breathing became irregular as if she was panicking, it was then he knew there was something very wrong.

She turned to him barely gripping the couch while her other hand was on her forehead, "I don't…I don't feel good…" She found herself falling, her eyes closing and everything going black.

He caught her in his arms almost knowing instantly that she was going to fait, "Maxie?" He moved the hair that was covering her face, she was out cold, "Oh Maximista," he turned to the couch realizing he'd have to carry her.

Lifting her legs up with his hurt arm the pain her felt was worth it as he placed her on the couch. He placed his hand on her forehead trying to see if she had a fever, but she didn't, "Maximista?" He whispered, but she didn't respond.

He checked her pulse, it wasn't exactly racing like his was, no, it was calm, beating normally now.

_No fever, heart is fine…what the hell could it be?_

He got up from his knees deciding to get the glass of water that she had wanted to get, but was to tired to fetch and it was then upon his return that he remembered he had his laptop with him. Surely someone online, some medical website could explain what her symptoms could be of.

He set the glass on the coffee table and then turned to her once more taking a seat on the edge of the cushion where he gently touched her blonde curls, "Maximista?" Rubbing his thumb along her cheek he whispered her name once more where she stirred, "What…"

"Hey," he softly whispered as her eyes fluttered open, "Oh Spin." She sounded relieved to see him.

"Shh," he held her hand while gently stroking her blonde hair, "Your okay."

She rested her other hand on the one he was holding seeing she had somewhat scared him, "I'm sorry."

Her innocent voice that felt as though she had imposed on him by passing out made his heart melt, "Sorry? For what? For not feeling well? For fainting?"

"I'm supposed to be taking care of you," she frowned as she played with his hand.

"And you did, for two stressful weeks, oh Maximista," he tenderly kissed her hand before stroking her blonde hair, "Let me take care of you."

"No Spinelli," she attempted to get up, but quickly fell back on the cushions, too tired to get up or move.

She sighed, "uh…"

"Shh, you lie down for a bit." He cursed himself now wondering if she had been like this all time when he was away, sick with no one to help her, "You've been on your feet all week and I haven't helped…"

She didn't want him to feel guilty, this wasn't his fault, he hadn't driven her to taking such poor care of herself, "Spinelli."

"Maximista," he looked at her not to question him, "Please blonde one, just rest."

"Alright," she tiresomely nodded squeezing his hands.

He smiled before looking away from her, "Here put this in your mouth…"

She eyed the thermometer "Spinelli I don't have the flu, I'm not sick."

"I don't want to take any chances blonde one," he saw her about to argue back and he stuck the thermometer in her mouth.

She looked at him annoyed, but never the less lied still for the two minutes it took for her temperature to be taken.

"Ah ha! See I don't have a fever, Spinelli I'm probably just a little dehydrated, I'm sure if I get one good night's sleep, I'll be fine."

He took the thermometer from her hand and grabbed the glass of water, "That may be, but let's throw caution to the wind," he rubbed his thumb along her cheek, "And spend today getting some rest."

She reluctantly smiled taking the glass from him, "Thanks." And then drank half the glass before handing it back to him.

"Okay," he set the glass back on the counter, "Are you hungry at all?"

She nodded no, "Just tired."

"In that case," he leaned into kiss her cheek and then leaned away, "Get some sleep."

"Spin…" She really didn't feel right taking a nap when she should be asking him to take a nap.

"Maximista," he cupped her cheek, "Just close your eyes, okay?" He insisted and she sighed like she didn't want to, "Close them."

She pouted but saw his persistent eyes and finally closed hers, "Fine Spinelli."

"Now," he spoke calmly wandering his lips to her ears, "I want you to think of a place that makes you happy that relaxes you and then go there."

"This is ridiculous," she remembered Georgie speaking to her about yoga like tranquil exercises.

"Maximista, go there and I'll be here when you wake up, pleasant dreams," he kissed her cheek where as he got up from her knees she reached for his hand.

He grabbed her hand rubbing it softly, "I'll be right here if you need you." He told her again resting her hand on her stomach.

He walked into the kitchen with the thermometer in his hand and rinsed it over the faucet where he then rested it on a paper, leaving it out for later. He walked back into the living room where just as he was about to sit down on the couch diagonally from her, he saw a blanket at the very opposite side of her couch. He glanced at her who didn't seem cold, but he couldn't help stop himself from opening the blanket up and gently lying it on her sleepy figure, bless her heart.

He crossed his arms feeling a slight sting, but didn't stop at watching her or backing away to another sofa and mindlessly staring at her at the beauty and the heart he had finally grasped.

His hands resting on the arms of the chair he raised his good hand to his mouth, his fingers giddily tapping his lips as he excitedly smiled, finally something went right for him. His luck was turning, not only because he was a million dollars richer, but he had the most gorgeous girl in the world who could have any guy and she wanted him, the Jackal.

He couldn't help, but chirp a loud laugh, "Ha…hahahah." But when she tossed and turned on the couch slightly stirring he became silent as a mouse and realized he'd have to announce his happiness another time.

Once she settled down finding her comfort spot on the pillow, he looked at the coffee table at the other envelope that was from Claudia. However before reaching for it, he wanted to get started on the Jackal's next mission so he grabbed his new black brief case that Jason had bought him.

Quietly removing his laptop, he booted his friend that he hadn't touched for nearly two weeks. He let both hands grace the keys as he waited to log onto his computer. When the log on screen popped up he was hesitant to push his password in with his fingers of his hurt arm however as he pushed each key he found himself in no pain at all. He didn't know what he was afraid of really, since he had regained all feeling in his fingers, wrist and upper arm, he regained the feeling almost four days after the surgery and by the end of the first weak the pain was gone in those areas. It had been the shoulder when he made full round motions that ached in agony, but even as the following week continued into his first sessions of working the shoulder, in just days he could see a difference.

His desktop background appeared and immediately began putting the search in for the name Andrew Karpov, he could tell right away the guy must be Russian using his knowledge of languages and knowing that Jason wanted information on this man meant he was most likely a competitor.

He looked away from the computer as the searches ran and quietly opened the big brown envelope where he pulled out a letter from Claudia.

_Dear Mr. Spinelli,_

_Congratulations on getting out of the hospital, I'm very proud of you. As I promised here is the next part of the puzzle to obtaining your money, which as you know we must handle discretely. Such information is in a small white envelope. _

Spinelli found the white envelope ignoring the other contents in it and opened the envelope to see a business card of a Storage Garage where on the back of the business card read, _ask for Polly, tell him Claudia Z sent you. Bring your I.D. Password: Asian Ague._

He silently laughed to himself, clever woman she was and then looked back at the white envelope that had no other information in it, just the single business card. He looked back at the letter and continued to read it.

_As you know, you are brilliant and I feel that brilliance needs to be rewarded since you single handedly got my brother and his girl friend out of nearly impossible charges sooner then our own lawyers could which is why I've decided to add a little something extra to what I originally promised you. _

Spinelli's eyes became intrigued.

_I look at you and I see a man destined for great things, knowledge is power and I believe someday Mr. Spinelli you will aspire to that whether you are working for Mr. Morgan as his second lieutenant or working as your own P.I. either way, you need something to define your sharp attention to detail personality, something that says 'Don't mess with the Jackal' and I find that money just won't do, but enjoy the ten grand I included._

Spinelli's eyes grew wide, _ten grand, right here in this bag? _He quickly looked in the envelope to see two rolls of one hundred dollar bills, _holy…ten grand. _Before eagerly wanting to count it, he remembered that this wasn't the big surprise. Looking back into the envelope he saw a key. Grabbing the key from the bag he knew almost instantly that it wasn't your average key. No, it was a key to a car, a key to his favorite car, a key to an Aston Martin.

He looked up at Maxie who was sleeping peacefully and then looked back down at the key in his hand, how he desperately wanted to squeal in excitement. He clenched his fist with the key in his hand silently keeping himself from shouting the exhilaration he felt in this very second. Here comes Damian Spinelli with a hot girl, a cool car, and a load of cash, _the jackal has hit the Jackpot!_

He looked back down at the letter wondering what else she had in store for him.

_But where's the car right? You'll get it when you arrive at your next destination where I think you'll be happy with the model, but I couldn't quite decide what color to choose for you, orange or black? After much thought I thought that a super sexy detective such as yourself needed a car that blended in the shadows in the dark for all those stakeouts, so I went with the black, sleek and state of the art just as yourself._

He was slightly disappointed until he read,

_but hold your breath Spinelli because then I thought that a super sweet quirky fellow such as yourself needed a car that showed personality and orange, orange is all you. _

She had really out done herself he thought, two cars, one for his life mysterious life in the mob and as a detective and the other for when he wanted to be himself, she was the sister he never had.

_Now that you got the car(s), the money, a lifetime supply of orange soda and barbeque chips I hope that you can live the rest of your days in happiness despite the tragedy my family caused you. _

_Be good to your friends and they'll be good to you, you showed that faith and I have returned such faith Spinelli. I only hope that you and the Zacchara family can be allies for many years to come._

_Sincerely, _

_The lady in red_

_Claudia Zacchara_

_P.S. _

_When I first arrived in Port Charles you trusted me, believed me and cared for me the way others wouldn't, may you always hold a special place in my heart even as I leave Port Charles._

_Good Luck Kid_

He read the letter once over just to make sure he hadn't missed anything by his over zealousness of having an orange Aston Martin and then he tucked the letter and the white envelope along with the cash back into the envelope. He didn't want to risk the chance of losing anything that might be critically important and he didn't want to reveal anything to Maxie until the timing was just right. He dropped the keys in his hand when he saw a small paper folded up on the ground next to the keys. As he grabbed the keys and opened the paper it was then he realized that it must have slipped out of the envelope because it was another note addressed to him only it wasn't from Claudia.

_Dear Spinelli,_

_What can I say? I owe you man, Lulu and I both owe you our freedom and our lives. I hope the shoulder heals quickly and that Maxie as well as yourself will be able to forgive me for putting your lives at risk. Thanks for the invitation to the concert tomorrow night, I'll let you and Lulu handle the details, but I hope that we can get passed this and become friends, for Lulu's sake._

_From,_

_Johnny Zacchara_

_P.S. Are you as good at driving a car as you are at hacking?_

--

Claudia is awesome isn't she? Look for Spinelli and Johnny to become good friends.

Next Chapter: Spinelli meets his match while making a startling discovery, Maxie says it isn't so and a little double dating?

I'll try to have an update soon, I'm half way through writing the next chapter so we'll see. I really love and appreciate all the feed back. Thanks!

Review!


	14. Friends forever

A/N: Hey so this is my update, the chapter is mostly on Spinelli who we see a different side to him, once again going back to that issue of confidence, remember Spixie's NOP and how confident he was afterwards? Well, we'll see that in this chapter. I of course had to do research on the whole pregnancy thing cause I know nothing about that stuff so everything has been researched lol for authenticity, ha. Enjoy and review. Oh and this story with Karpov is going to be a little bit different from GH's Karpov, I'm going to make him tougher then he is on GH. And there's a new character in this chapter who will give Spinelli a run for his money.

Chapter 14

_Andrew Karpov a well-known coffee importer of Russia and Europe…two dead wives…a son_…_been arrested…as many times as Stone Cold…hmmm trouble this is._

He reached for his phone when he realized that it was still in Maxie's pocket and therefore unattainable as she silently slept on the couch like she hadn't slept for days.

Spinelli hadn't exactly found anything that raised a red flag yet for oddly enough most of the times this Andrew Karpov had been arrested it was for assault and battery, this man had a temper, but as for everything else he was a clean cut business man _so far_.

Being Jason's trusty sidekick he was determined to find everything he could on this man, the only problem was this man's financial records were needle and a haystack to get through which meant it could be hours if not days before he could find anything that Jason could use as evidence to categorize him as a threat.

Because the issue was far too sensitive to use the Commissioner's phone or to send an email, which could reveal that Jason Morgan was onto Andrew Karpov, Spinelli decided to save everything he found to a folder and concern himself Maxie's mysterious illness.

He ran multiple searches first listing a few of her symptoms on Google which quickly turned up with nothing, it wasn't specific enough so he went more general researching "Symptoms" and from there he found a list of medical websites. So he picked five different websites, some were like quizzes others just listed possible conditions and after searching for twenty minutes he still was no closer to finding a solution. What worried him the most was that while he thought she had the flu or was just dehydrated, some websites suggested something more serious, an actual illness or disease, but after contemplating the results he told himself that her symptoms had only occurred within the last week at least to his knowledge so it couldn't be that serious.

So he decided to go back to his gut instinct, which was that she had the flu and she had certainly been around the hospital enough to have easily caught something. So he searched on Google "Flu Symptoms" and sure enough he found many websites giving full details of symptoms, but the only problem was that she only had a few of the twenty some symptoms listed, once again a dead end. Going to back to the previous page he looked for something that suggested other ideas something along the lines of "Flu like symptoms". Scanning down the page he saw at what looked like a pretty bad source, _Yahoo ask and answers,_ he would have strained away from the idea but as he saw the title "Stomach Flu Symptoms or something else?" He instantly clicked on it.

He read the question of the troubled user reading her symptoms, _fatigue, nausea, dizzy faint…_He looked up at Maxie and then back at the web page and then back at her.

The confused user on Yahoo seemed to know there was only one other explanation for symptoms if they weren't the flu and as soon as Spinelli read the word it was as if a hundred empty orange soda bottles fell on him.

His eyes looked beyond the question to the answers, he realized he shouldn't jump to anything for all he knows is this woman with this ridiculous idea that her symptoms are that of pregnancy could be an idiot, no need to panic _yet_.

He felt like he'd been shot in the chest like the wind had been knocked out of him like he couldn't breathe. As he read each response, most of which had been convinced that she was expecting, some people even went as far as to post the difference between the flu and early signs of pregnancy and as he found that Maxie's symptoms seemed to be more on the pregnancy side of things he could feel his heart skip not just one beat, but many.

He could no longer rely on random posters on the Internet to inform him on this type of issue, now he needed a reliable source so her searched "Early signs of pregnancy" and then clicked on whatever came first.

pretty much laid it all out there for him, but Spinelli had never been one to really trust one good source even if the entire website was focused on pregnant women, _no _he told himself _this can not be happening._

Five minutes later he lied back on the sofa, _this is happening._

He rested his hand on his forehead before pressing the arch of his nose and closing his eyes where he found himself flashing back to that night. That night where they had been so side tract so lost so not there usual selves that he honestly couldn't remember if they used a condom, he was so shocked that she came onto him so shocked that he kissed her in return and she wasn't running out the door that protection hadn't even crossed his mind. It wasn't like he had sex all the time, he wouldn't even keep a condom on him because he knew he'd never need one because no one was interested in the Jackal, not until Maxie came along.

He sighed leaning his elbows on his thighs close to his knees, while his hands rested over his face. He closed his eyes where his hands raised to his hair almost pulling the roots of it, this was not supposed to be happening to him at 22 whether he wanted the baby or not was not in question, surely he did, he always imagined himself as a father, he wasn't too bad with kids despite not having any parents to raise him, he wanted a baby if there was one, but he just he just didn't expect to be doing this at 22. No. He should be out enjoying his cars, his money, the fact that he just survived a near death experience, he should be enjoying a simple future with Maxie Jones not skipping ahead five or ten years for Everybody Loves Raymond.

He looked up at her softy smiling as she slept like a _baby_, he clenched his jaw together as he mentioned thought of the word. How he wished he could talk to her now, for them to figure out what this all meant and if she really was pregnant, but he couldn't disturb her, she had been worrying herself over him for weeks, she needed rest and he needed time.

To be honest he sort of hoped she wasn't pregnant because then yesterday's events wouldn't make him feel so bad, it wouldn't just be that he abused her, it would be he abused the mother of his child and that made him sick to his stomach, _ug! This sucked, this really sucked_.

_But_ he smiled as he stared at her wanting to stroke her blonde hair and feel her warmth next to him _it didn't have to suck. _No it didn't because as he thought about yesterday he also thought about the docks, if she was pregnant then that meant he had saved _them, _he was even a greater hero_. _

There was a smile on her face as if whatever she was thinking made her happy, she had gone to her happy place and that made him smile, it made him stop thinking about the negative side of bringing a baby into the world.

He had money now, even before Claudia gave him a million, Alcazar and Jason had paid him well, he had enough from all three to take care of Maxie and that child for the rest of their lives, that was the upside to all this now. There would be so many other issues to work out, so many reasons why they shouldn't be parents, but he figured all it really came down to besides money, being able to provide for the child, was love. Never mind that they'd be too young or their careers were just starting to take off at least Maxie's was, if a baby existed then that meant they made a miracle and how could they turn their back on miracle?

_There was only one way to know, one way to know for sure, a pregnancy test, they're 99.9 percent accurate there's no room for error. _

He got up from the sofa to the kitchen where he grabbed the yellow pages and called the nearest grocery store, "Yeah do you deliver?" If he hadn't told her that he'd be there for her when she woke up then he might have considered driving himself there, but he did, he had promised her and he'd never break a promise.

"No?" Spinelli questioned wondering what grocery store didn't deliver nowadays, "Well I'll pay two hundred dollars for someone to find the following things and deliver them to the commissioner's house, I'll pay five hundred if you can get them here in half an hour."

Spinelli slightly giggled, what people did for money was amazing.

"Okay you have a pen and paper?" Spinelli walked to the doorway of the kitchen to check in on Maxie who was still sleeping.

He turned away as he heard the anxious man on the phone, "I need orange soda, the bottled kind, barbeque chips, Ginger-Ale the two liter kind, two bottles of that stuff. Two boxes of saltine crackers…" He looked around in the pantry to see if there was anything else they might need, "Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn, Tylenol, oh and Pepto-Bismol and this next item is very important…" Spinelli closed the pantry door and leaned on the wall still in disbelief that he was about to say this, "I need you to get the five best pregnancy tests."

With his eyes closed and his hand on his cheek he could hear the man on the other line chuckling which instantly compelled Spinelli to open his eyes, "Sir it would be most kind if you would not laugh seeing as I'm about to make you a lot of money…" The man stopped laughing, quickly clearing up his throat and assured Spinelli that he'd be at the house in twenty minutes.

Spinelli walked back into the living room after putting the phone back on the receiver and putting the phone book away and grabbed the brown envelope where took out the cash and decided to entertain himself by the window of the front door counting ten thousand dollars.

He saw the car pull into the driveway and instantly folded the money into his pocket and walked to the front door wanting to greet the young sixteen year old before he rang the doorbell.

Gently closing the front door behind him he greeted the teenager who had short spiky blonde hair and glasses over his blue eyes, he appeared to be a little dorky, but Spinelli wasn't judging cause he was a dork too.

"Did you get everything?" Spinelli looked at him as he set the last of the three grocery bags in front of him.

"Yeah, um the soda is in that bag and the food items are in that one and this one has the…" He hinted and Spinelli nodded, "So how much?"

The man nervously wiped his hands against his jeans, "It'll be a hundred and fifty."

Spinelli looked at him wanting to see a receipt for that sounded ridiculous, "A hundred and fifty dollars? I asked you to get like ten things?"

"Well the pregnancy tests were like twenty bucks each?" He honestly looked at him and Spinelli just nodded not wanting the man to mention 'pregnancy test' anymore.

"Well thanks," Spinelli reached for his pocket to pay him.

"Yeah and I got all different kinds of the best brands not like the actual method is any different, but," he reached down into the bag, "Pink or blue," he showed Spinelli before grabbing another one, "Plus or minus," he showed him and then grabbed another box, "One that will actually say whether she's pregnant or not and…" The kid stopped talking seeing Spinelli's dear caught in the headlights look not at all amused by the man's continuance of the topic.

The kid's face turned red, "Sorry I just wanted to make sure you were happy with what I found I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything," he could see that obviously the man in front of him was not ready to be a father.

"No you did good," he sighed trying not to show he was mad as he counted seven hundred dollars, "I only have hundreds so there's an extra fifty in there for you for getting here so quickly."

Spinelli looked up at the kid handing him the cash when he saw the smirk on his face, "What?" Spinelli asked a little annoyed, he wasn't in his usual Jackal mood he was in the 'I'm going to have to grow up now' mood.

"Oh nothing," he nervously nodded taking the money from him, "Thanks," he turned away from him when he stopped.

Spinelli impatiently set his hands on his hips, "Yes?"

"Um," the boy turned around, "Can I ask you something?"

"Um, I guess?" Spinelli looked at him confused.

"Are you…Are you the guy that saved Maxie? The guy that killed Anthony Zacchara's henchmen?"

Spinelli regretfully nodded, even two weeks after the shooting he still had news being reported about him making it impossible for people to forget about him, "Yes I am."

"I knew it!" He jumped in excitement.

"So you want an autograph or something?" Spinelli didn't mean to snap at him or be so serious, but his mind really was focused on bigger things.

"Yeah!" The kid grabbed a pen from his jeep and gave Spinelli one of the one hundred dollar bills he gave him.

"You want me to sign the money I gave you?" Spinelli looked at him confused, but the kid insisted.

"Heck yes I want you to sign it! I thought you looked familiar when I drove up, but I never thought I'd be meeting the guy who saved Maxie Jones."

Spinelli wandered over to the garage door needing a surface to sign the one hundred dollars, "Can the Jackal-I mean can I ask how you know Maxi-Maxie?"

The kid walked over to him, "She used to babysit me."

"Oh," Spinelli nodded with a smile, "So what do you want me to say on here?" He looked back at the bill having never signed an autograph before except at the tech expo when he was introducing a demo of the video game he created of Stone Cold.

"Um I don't know," the boy was quite nervous now, "You're like my hero."

Spinelli raised his eyebrows glancing back at him, "The Jackal is you're hero?"

"Yeah, wait did you just say Jackal?"

Spinelli rolled his eyes, a conversation that never seemed to end, but at the same time he was interested in what he had to say, "Yea."

"Are you? Are you the creator of The Stone Cold Saga?" The kid's face lit up with excitement.

Spinelli formed a quick smile, "Yeah I introduced it at the 2007 tech expo last year, but it didn't get picked up."

He looked astonished, "Well I thought it was great!"

"Really?" Spinelli asked easing his arms from the garage wanting to talk to him now, "Cause it was reviewed to be too close to Hit-man which we know is like…"

"Video game of the year, I know, but I and my friends thought The Stone Cold Saga was truly genuine, you brought back the original first person shooter game which we haven't seen since…"

"Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye," Spinelli grinned, he felt like he made a new friend.

"Yeah," the kid giddily grinned completely shocked that he was having a conversation with him, "I thought your video game not only was original, but the story was well developed…"

"Well," Spinelli blushed, "There was only three levels…"

"Three awesome levels that left my friends and I wondering when this game was going to come out!"

Spinelli slightly frowned, "Well unfortunately my work right now is very demanding and takes up a lot of my time I'm not sure if the Stone Cold Saga will ever be completed."

"Aw man," he was obviously disappointed, "Well that's too bad."

"Sorry," Spinelli frowned before looking to catch the guys name tag, "But you'll be the first to know if I ever pick it up again."

"Really?" He felt honored.

"Sure, you are my number one fan," Spinelli slightly laughed as he looked back at the garage and returned to signing the dollar bill.

"Well I'm not just your fan because of that, you saved Maxie's life who was like the coolest babysitter I ever had, she let me play video games even when I was grounded and sometimes she'd even play with me."

Spinelli goofily grinned knowing he'd have to tease her about that sometime, "Well Cody…"

"You know my name?" He interrupted Spinelli who turned around to him done with his autograph.

"Your name tag kind of gave it away," he joked handing him back to pen and the autograph.

"Oh right," Cody laughed, "So…Are you Maxie's boy friend?" His eyes slightly drifted to the bag of pregnancy tests.

"Um," Spinelli grinned, "It was nice meeting my number one fan." Spinelli walked back over to the bags completely ignoring the question.

"Cause if you are and she's going to have a baby I mean I could totally babysit, she would totally get a kick out of that!"

Spinelli didn't want to hurt the guy's feelings, but now he was becoming obnoxious, "Hey…" He gently approached him, "Can we keep this a secret, can you keep…"

"My mouth shut?" Cody understood what he was saying, "I won't tell a sole, I mean maybe my friends, but I won't tell the commissioner that I bought his daughter pregnancy tests."

Spinelli chuckled it did sound awkward all of it, "Thanks I appreciate it. Here," he reached for his pocket giving him another hundred dollars.

"You don't have to pay me to keep my mouth shut Mr. Spinelli," he was almost a little offended.

"First I'm not paying you to keep your mouth shut, I thought about it at the beginning, but since you kindly asked me for my autograph and seeing as you didn't have any other paper then money, I want to reimburse you," he insisted Cody take the money.

"Wow, thank you," he took the money from him adding it to the other money he had in his hand.

"No problem, you came to my rescue," Spinelli hastily said before accidentally letting out a deep sigh.

Cody acknowledge the groan, "You really think you knocked her up?"

Spinelli glanced up at him surprised by his choice of words that made the situation sound worse, "I don't know, but," he put his hands on his hips trying to be as nice as possible to him, "I think you need to leave."

Cody could take a hint and slowly backed away from him, "I'm sure it'll be fine, you know, Maxie loves kids and you are like the king pin of mobsters and…"

"What?" Spinelli looked at him weird, no one had ever nick named him before.

"Well you've worked with all the major gangsters here in Port Charles, you're like the master of organized crime."

Spinelli looked at him taken back with a smile on his face, "Thank you I guess, but let's keep that between us."

"Of course Mr. Spinelli, I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up." He felt stupid, but the newspapers practically reported Spinelli's life story upon arriving in Port Charles where they discussed Alcazar, Sonny, Jason and now Anthony Zacchara.

"Don't worry about it," Spinelli held out his name, "Please call me Damian." He paused for a minute wondering why he just said that with such professionalism, he never introduced himself as Damian it was always Spinelli.

The kid shook his hand in disbelief, "Well Damian it's been an honor."

Spinelli shook his hand, "It was nice meeting you."

Cody let go of his hand and walked back to his car where in the corner of his eye he saw Spinelli reach the heavy bag of soda, "Didn't you just get out of the hospital?"

"Yeah, but I'll be okay," Spinelli smiled before looking back down at the bag and lifted it up, "Ah…" He dropped the bag instantly feeling the pain in his shoulder.

"Hey!" The kid turned to Spinelli who was holding his shoulder, "Let me help you with that."

"Um," Spinelli really didn't want to ask for help, "Thanks I'll pay you."

Cody looked up at him like it was unnecessary, "You've paid me enough Damian, this ones on the house."

Spinelli smiled at the boy's generosity, "Thanks Code."

"Sure thing," he picked up the grocery bags, "You want to hold this one?" He glanced down at the bag with the pregnancy tests in.

"Yeah," Spinelli slowly nodded with a laugh letting go of his shoulder and holding the bag by the handles.

They walked to the front door where Spinelli looked back at him, "She's sleeping so shh…"

Cody nodded as Spinelli opened the front door and led him into the kitchen where Cody quietly put the groceries on the table and then quietly let himself out the house.

Spinelli walked to the entrance of the kitchen to check on Maxie and once he saw that she was still asleep he walked to the table and quietly began putting the groceries away. Once he was done, all that was left was the dastardly bag of Pregnancy tests. He had no idea where to put them, he couldn't leave them in the kitchen or look at them in the living room, but perhaps he could hide them in his leather duffle bag until he was ready to confront her.

One by one he took the five tests from the brown bag and set them on the counter where after he disposed of the paper brown bag, he looked back at each test curiously reading each box.

As he looked at each box the reality was becoming more clear yet overwhelming at the same time, one of these pee sticks is going to tell him whether he's going to be a father, his life, his future was going to be decided on a pee stick, kind of funny when you think about it.

They were all so intimidating, First Response, EPT, Clearblue, just the names sounded so twenty first century. Especially the electronic ones, how technology had changed to the point where an object could now read a hormone and display "yes" or "no" or "pregnant" or "not pregnant", it was mind bottling.

Feeling a little sick just looking at them he scooped them all up and quietly marched upstairs placing each one in his duffle bag underneath his clothes in case she ever decided to go looking through his bag for a shirt or something.

He pulled the zipper along his bag closing it where just as he got up from his knees he saw her daily planner on her desk. It wasn't like it was her diary, no, it just had events written in perhaps events he thought of her menstrual cycle. He rolled his eyes never thinking he'd ever be concerned with the female body in that nature, it completely freaked him out and unnerved him to be thinking those things about his Maxie. He thought about going into Jackal Detective Mode and snooping through her entire room for any signs that she might think she's pregnant and not be telling him, but he decided not to because he trusted her and if she thought she was pregnant she would have come to him, wouldn't she?

She had been asleep for two hours if not a little longer when she slowly woke up to see a laptop, but no Spinelli. She slightly yawned as she took the blanket off her that she knew she wasn't on her when she first took her nap, _oh Spinelli. _She smiled at how sweet he was and then slowly sat up from the couch trying to see if she had enough energy to go looking for him.

Deciding she did, she slowly pulled herself up from the couch and walked partially to the kitchen, but he wasn't in there or in the den from where she was standing. She turned back to his laptop wondering if he had been working on what Jason wanted, but as she touched the keypad to stop the screensaver she saw a webpage that made her glare upstairs.

He sat on the bed searching with his eyes to certain areas of her room to see if she had left anything accidentally open for someone to see, but her room was as always spotless. He leaned his elbows on his knees closing his eyes as he put his hands over his face suddenly feeling old, not old like an old man with a cane, but he didn't feel young anymore, he felt for the first time in his entire life, an adult who now had a responsibility.

"There you are," she leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

He quickly looked up at her flustered, surprised that she was awake, so surprised that he wasn't able to form the words or the expression of a concerned 'you should be lying down' look.

"Spinelli?" She asked slightly worried by his standoffish behavior, the way he looked away from her when she called his name, the way he rubbed his hands, nervous.

He slowly held his hand out motioning her to join him, "Come here."

She leaned off of the wall walking towards him where she put her hand in his and sat on the bed, "Spinelli." She attempted to touch his forehead to see if he had a fever for the way he was acting led her onto to believe that maybe he wasn't feeling well, he certainly didn't look as well as he did when she fell asleep.

"No," his left hand took her right hand from his forehead and let it rest on their two adjoined hands. Instead of putting his left hand on top of hers, he rested the elbow of his arm on his knee and then planted his left cheek in his palm and then ever so gracefully turned his attention to her, glancing up from there hands to her face.

"Spinelli you're scaring me," and he was, he looked uptight about something, his body language was awfully serious, _the nerve of Jason to do this to him on the day he left the hospital,_ she thought.

"Oh I'm sorry blonde one," he kissed her hands while his cheek still rested in his other palm of the arm that rested on his knee, "I don't mean to scare you."

"Spinelli," she bit her lip wondering if she should just come out and say it, say what she knew he might be thinking.

"Maximista, I'm fine and I know, I think I know what's been making you so tired and sick lately."

She looked at him who was so serious yet calm and nice at the same time, "Spinelli wait."

He ignored her request and reached down to his duffle bag unzipping it and then shuffling his hand through clothes until he grasped the box, "Maxie I think…"

He removed the box from the bag revealing it to her where he looked up at her nervous 'what is this' look, only he knew she knew what it was and deeply sighed as if he had thought about all the other options and said, "It's the only thing that I can think of."

"Spinelli," she looked at him like this wasn't the answer.

"I know," he looked at her in just as much disbelief, "I know you don't want to believe that you could be pregnant, but," he paused looking at her with more gentleness and softness then before, "You have all the symptoms Maxie, each and every one."

She squeezed his hand while her other tenderly touched his arm, "Spinelli I'm not pregnant."

He nodded in disagreement, "Maxie I know the idea is scary, we're too young, my life is…well it is dangerous," he paused as she looked at him with those blue eyes of hers that said he wasn't dangerous.

He looked back at her insisting that he was and said, "And you have your career, but I can't remember if we used…" He suddenly found the word 'condom' hard to even say, "And although I'm sure you're on the pill…" He became flustered again, talking about sex was so awkward, "You were really frightened that night you know and…" He couldn't really explain further, but he motioned the pregnancy test even more towards her.

"Spinelli I…"

He thought she was attempting to push the idea from his mind, "Maxie I've got money, if you're pregnant I'll take care of you and the baby you'll have nothing to worry about, just please take the test so…"

She put her hand on his cheek to stop him in his rambling tracks, "What I was going to say is that I'm not pregnant because I got my…my you know what last week."

"Oh," he slightly frowned looking away from her feeling her hand no longer on his cheek.

He was silent for about a minute where he wondered if this was her way of possibly pushing him away, "Maxie, you wouldn't..." He looked up at her hoping he wouldn't regret asking this, "You wouldn't lie to me would you?"

"No," she faintly said nodding no as she squeezing his hand even more trying to tell him she would never ever lie to him.

"I mean," he hated suggesting this, "If you're saying this because you've been with someone else and I'm not the father," he hated uttering such words that brought up her old ways, but he just didn't want her to think that he'd leave her if that was the case. Sure he'd be hurt, but he would find a way to deal with it, love her and another man's child, he could do it.

"Spinelli," she gently grabbed his cheek in urgency looking straight into his eyes wanting him to stop this thinking of another man being in her life, "There is no one else."

She could see the uncertainty in his eyes, "Okay? I'm not lying to you," she seriously looked at him hating to have to admit this because it was such a personal issue, "I got my period last week."

She talked to him in a rationally calm voice, "I'm not late," she nodded no, "These feelings I'm having are just me probably dehydrated."

"But are you sure?" He looked at her the way all guys look at their girl friends when a pregnancy scare arises needing to know for sure.

"Yes," she smiled with a giggle, "Spinelli? Don't you think I would know if I was pregnant? I only faked a pregnancy like two years ago."

He laughed a sigh of relief, "Yes, I'm sure you would know, but I just…"

"Shh," she place her hand over his chest where she changed her comforting words to a shocked, "Spinelli you're heart is racing."

"Well…" He felt embarrassed, his cheeks turning red as she felt around his heart, "This…" He got up from the bed with his back to her, "This isn't exactly…" He set his hands on his hips before turning to her, "I mean, like I said, I have money to provide for a child and I could get out of working for Jason, Jax offered me a job a few months back…"

She could tell in just the way he talked, the way he lost all the nick names and addressed himself in first person, she could tell this shook him up.

"I mean," he looked up at her, "I would have a plan, you know? I just want you to know that. I wouldn't leave you or the baby, I'd do right by you, get married…"

She giggled at the way he sort of paced around the room rambling of how far he would go to owning up to his responsibility.

Her giggling stopped his pacing, "What's so funny?" He looked at her serious.

"Spinelli, calm down," she got off the bed and walked towards him, "Don't worry anymore," she put her arms around his neck, sweetly gazing up at him, "You and I are not about to become parents, you don't have to quit working for Jason, we don't have to get married," she inched herself closer to his lips.

"Everything is okay," she simply told him before smirking as her lips pierced his, "So just relax." She leaned out of the kiss hoping to see she had comforted him, but he was still appeared tense.

"Maxie I'm just trying to explain that you can count on me to support you to take care of you, I'd never leave you." He really wanted to make that clear for he knew her biggest fear was abandonment and he never wanted her to feel alone.

She softly smiled feeling his genuine words, "I believe you, but I don't think we have anything to worry about so calm down."

He hastily nodded trying to form a smile, "Alright."

She kissed his check before removing her hands from his neck and walking to the bed where as soon as they sat down in a somewhat awkward silence she touched his hand on his lap and softly told him, "But I thought about it, you know?" She wanted him to know that he wasn't the only one that had panicked.

He looked at her wondering when she thought this and why she didn't tell him.

"When we were in your room at the hospital arguing last week, I noticed that morning that I was _late_ and I'm never late. And I was so frantic trying to see if I had taken my pill that night or what that I lost track of time and that's why I was late to you're appointment," she bit her tongue at the using the word three times, "And when I almost passed out…It only convince me more that I…that I might be pregnant."

"I knew…" He gritted his teeth knowing he had been right, "I knew there was something bothering you."

She pulled on his arm desperately afraid that she'd lose him, "Spinelli I wanted to tell you," her lip quivered becoming worried that he would get angry with her, "I did, I really did."

He saw the frightful tears in her eyes, this wasn't worth crying about, "Oh Maxie," he pulled her into a hug where she comfortably rested her cheek on chest, "Why didn't you tell me?" He weakly whined looking down at her wondering why she kept something so important from him.

"I wanted to," she leaned away looking up at him wiping her eyes, "But you had so much on your mind and you seemed to excited about starting your physical therapy that I…I didn't want to trouble you."

"Trouble me?" He frowned slightly rolling his eyes and then glanced back down at her, "Maxie…" He looked away frustrated.

"Spinelli I'm sorry," she bit her lip wanting him to look at her, "I just wanted you to focus on getting better, not worrying about some baby that may or may not exist."

She looked down at their hands that were playfully intertwined with each other, "And then as soon as I got home that night I…I saw that it had come and that there was no need to worry, so I just figured there was no need to tell you."

"But," he annoyingly looked back at her, "You shouldn't have had to think about all that on your own, it's too much for one person to handle, I could have…"

"You did enough," she touched his cheek, "When you figured out a way to forgive me for the way I was taking everything out on you, the way you were being so nice about it all, you helped me."

He frowned feeling like he hadn't considering that day he had practically questioned their friendship, "Well I still think you should have told me and the next time you're worried about something just tell me what it is so we can figure it out together."

She nodded, completely in aw by his forgiveness, "I will." She grabbed his hand, "I promise."

"Okay," he nodded believing her.

He gently rubbed his thumbs over her hands before gazing up at her, "Don't shut me out," he cupped her cheek, "Please don't."

He glanced back down at her hands, "Because I have had people lie to me," he glanced up at her, "About important life changing things and when I feel betrayed enough by the people I thought I could trust, I run away…that's how I got to Port Charles."

She looked at him confused, "I thought you came here to go to Port Charles University?"

"No," he chuckled, "I hacked my way into the University's computer system and made myself a student, but that's another story."

He looked up at her becoming serious again, "The point is I've had enough people lie to me and betray me in my life that I don't think I could handle you doing that to me." He weakly looked away from her when she placed her hands on his cheeks, "Hey…"

He looked up at her, "I mean it Maxie I'm serious about this."

She slightly giggled, "I know you are." She stroked his cheek, "And I'm telling you that I would never hurt you, I would never intentionally hurt you because first and foremost you are my best friend and whatever happens between us I need us to always be friends."

"Of course," he pulled her into a hug wanting the same thing, "We'll always be friends."

She leaned out of the hug asking once more, "Always?" She needed to know for sure that no matter what happens between them, no matter what the other has done, that they'd always be friends.

He slowly, but confidently smiled, "Always," he raised his hand to cup her cheek, "Friends forever."

--

So I originally was going to put another scene in this chapter which doubts what Maxie said about getting her period which she of course didn't go into detail, anyways I read that some pregnant woman experience bleeding in their first two or three weeks of being pregnant if they expected their period, so I did my research! If I'm wrong then it's the stupid internet. Anyway I later decided that it would take away from everything they've said and done and it would pretty much undue everything that just happened. However look for that scene in the next chapter with the double dating, that scene was supposed to be with Spinelli but I've changed it to Lulu so we'll see how that works. Expect Maxie and Lulu to become friends as well as Johnny and Spinelli, the new four musketeers.

Next Chapter: Morning sickness, a confrontation and a first date.

Review! Hope you enjoyed it!


	15. Girl Talk

A/N: Hey everyone sorry it's taken me like forever to get this out! Yikes. Okay I would say this chapter is all about Maxie with a very important scene between her and Lulu, we get some unexpected bonding and I think the scenes, however slightly long, are very funny, sincere and overall very telling. Enjoy!

Chapter 15

Spinelli opened the door to Maxie's room with a white towel around him and water dripping down his droopy brown hair, "Oh…" He held his breath as he stood in the doorway seeing her with only white underwear on and a red Old Navy cotton tank top on.

"Spinelli," Maxie rolled her eyes as she looked at him through the mirror wondering why he seemed so embarrassed.

"It's okay blonde one," he looked away from her partially closing his eyes, "I'll just grab my clothes and I'll be out of your way." He smiled assuredly grabbing hold of the jeans, boxers and plain grey shirt that he laid out on the bed prior to taking a shower.

Maxie giggled at his gentlemen behavior, "Spinelli," she turned to him putting her hair up in a ponytail, "Spinelli I've seen you naked before."

Spinelli blushed with nervousness, "The Jackal-I-he-uh knows, but."

"But," she smiled walking towards him, "You do have a cute butt."

He humorously huffed as she stopped in front of him where he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off the cleavage that seemed more exposed then ever or maybe it had always been like that, he couldn't remember, all he knew right now were the her breasts seemed…well they just seemed bigger and it made him squirm because he knew only he had all access pass to them.

"Spinelli up here," she tried to say without laughing.

He quickly look up at her, "Sorry it's just that," he used his hand to explain, "They're so…"

She giggled at his in coherent babbling, "Spinelli."

He looked up at her again, "Yes, sorry." He laughed feeling like an idiot, an idiot drooling over his tremendously hot girl friend who made him feel things he hadn't experienced since his first crush that resided in Oakfield, Tennessee.

She put her hands on his arms where just as she was about to continue on with her point, she began to feel his muscles, "Spinelli." She goofily smiled completely turned on, "Working out is paying off." She looked at him extremely impressed.

"I guess," he really couldn't tell any difference except that his shoulder seemed to have more range of motion without stiffness to it.

"Um yes," she grinned at him with a very powerful nod, "Spinelli I remembered you being buff when we were together, but…"

"But what did you just say?" Mac stood in the doorway wondering why his daughter wasn't dressed and standing so close to Spinelli who in his book was naked.

Maxie quickly looked at him completely nervous at his timing, "Nothing daddy."

Mac pointed at the two of them trying to wrap his mind around what he just heard, "You get dressed, put some jeans on for Christ's sake!"

"Oh dad!" She laughed at how ridiculous he was being.

"And you!" He glared at Spinelli with his finger pointed at him, "You…you get dressed too…"

"That's what I was trying to do sir…" Spinelli muffled out as Mac began to speak over him, "And not in here!"

"Okay dad!" Maxie walked to her door grasping the doorknob, "Get out!"

"Not until he leaves," he pointed his finger out the door.

Maxie rolled her eyes, "Dad."

"No, look I told you he could stay here until he gets better because as the commissioner it would look bad if I didn't let the man who saved my daughter stay here, but…"

Maxie quickly interrupted him, "Oh but let me guess," she crossed her arms, "My life wouldn't have needed saving had he just stayed away from me? Huh? Is that it dad?" She gave him about fifteen seconds of silence before continuing, "Well you know what? He did a helluva lot better protecting me," she pointed at him, "Then you did."

Mac huffed with his hands on his hips outraged at what she just said, "Well if you had just been HONEST about why you were seeing Johnny and Lulu so much at the precinct, if you had just told us what you knew we would have protected YOU."

"Oh like you protected Georgie?" She snapped at him only to regret the words a second later seeing his very hurt face, "Mac I'm sorry."

"Fine…" He nodded in annoyance, ignoring her apology, he didn't need a smart mouth in his house anymore; "You think you can have a much safer life with him, a mobster?"

"Dad he's not a mobster."

"He works for Jason."

_Yes, but!_ "Dad we talked about this, you don't get to have any say in who I date."

Mac felt like a ton of bullets flew into his chest, "You're with _him_?"

Maxie looked back at Spinelli and smiled, "Yes," she looked back at Mac, "Spinelli and I are together and if you don't like it, too bad!"

"Maxie he's dangerous err no Spinelli," he looked up at the boy wanting to correct himself, "You're not dangerous, you are a fine young man but Maxie!" He looked down at her, "He works for dangerous people and you are a target!"

"And you put dangerous criminals away!" She looked at him like it goes both ways, but he disagreed and she wanted to put an end to this, "Mac!"

She softly looked up at him hoping that if she sincerely addressed him like an adult, like a caring daughter not wanting to hurt him just wanting a little acceptance that made he'd take her words to heart, "Spinelli is the best thing that has ever happened to me, maybe even better then my job, I don't know," she rolled her eyes for a second before looking back at him, "But all I know is that…" She looked down at the floor trying to separate the uncertain and certain things from her life and then without a minute's passing, she knew the one thing that was certain, the one thing she knew that was true in her life right now.

"Daddy," she looked up at him having no idea how to say it any other way, "I love him."

_No! No! No! _Mac cringed wondering how the hell this happened, his daughter was in love with a mobster and he's the commissioner, _god this is messed up._

She turned to Spinelli slowly nodding her head no as in she didn't know why she didn't tell him sooner, "I love you."

She quickly turned away from him to Mac barely getting the chance to see his reaction, "I do Mac, I love him and you, the police department, the mob, aren't going to keep me away from him because he's all I've got and I'm not gonna lose him like I've lost everyone else."

Mac looked at her and then glanced at Spinelli trying to make a decision about how to handle this, but he couldn't, he couldn't respond being angry at her once more, he couldn't respond being completely happy for her, but he could respond being neutral.

"Fine." He huffed hating to act like he might be okay with this.

"Fine?" She looked at him confused not expecting this from him.

"Well what would you like me to say Maxie?" He looked at her with annoyance, "Do I like it? No, but if he…" Mac groaned, "If he makes you happy then I guess I'm just going to have to accept it right?"

"Yes." She slowly smiled, she'd hate to have to chose Spinelli over him.

"Then that's what I'm doing, but Spinelli," he looked up at him, "If you break her heart I'll break every finger to the point where you'll never be able to use a computer again, clear?"

"Yes sir," Spinelli spoke confidently not showing at all that his threat had scared him.

The doorbell rang and Mac sighed, "I'll get that."

Maxie nodded like it was good idea and as soon as he left she turned to Spinelli with a smile, "He was just kidding." She walked to him putting her arms around his waist, "He's not gonna break you're fingers," she joked before cupping his cheek, "So don't worry."

"Did you mean it?" He asked her not really carrying about Mac's threat anymore, "Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

She softly smiled before gently brushing his still very wet hair out of his eyes, "Yeah I meant it." She leaned in putting her arms around his neck where just as she was about to kiss his moist lips, she glanced up at him with a twinkle in her eye, "Every single word" and like that her lips crashed into his and they embarked on something much more then two friends deciding to be boyfriend girlfriend, they were two friends caught up in a journey of young love, this years love, a love that would test their friendship beyond each other's expectations.

-

Mac ran downstairs shouting he'd be there any minute when as he approached the windows near the front door he saw a yellow Camero parked in the street. Walking closer to the window he saw through the curtain the driver of such vehicle and a blonde, it was then that Mac stopped in his tracks and looked upstairs at Maxie's door that thank god was still open and yelled at the top of his lungs, "What the hell are two fugitives doing at my house!"

-

Johnny looked down at Lulu feeling extremely awkward being here especially after hearing Mac's shouting, "Are you sure…"

"Spinelli told me it would be okay," she insisted while she held onto her purse that was dangling in front of her legs.

"But," he looked at the door, "Are you getting the feeling…"

"That he failed to mention we were coming? Yes," she slightly giggled with a tad bit of annoyance.

-

Spinelli looked at Maxie's somewhat annoyed glare, "I can explain."

"Good because my dad is about to have a flippin' heart attack Spinelli," she slightly laughed actually wanting to see him melt in a tantrum.

"Okay," Spinelli looked at her with his hands nervously gesturing to his explanation, "I sort of kind of…" Spinelli paused slightly preparing himself for Maxie's anger, "Invited Fair Lulu and Johnny with us."

She stomped her foot down, "Spinelli!" She crossed her arms infuriated.

"I…I thought," he tensed up become slightly afraid of her outburst, "I thought it would be a good way to gain closure from the…you know…talk about last minute details."

She glared at him knowing that it was sort of necessary, they needed to get together to discuss for the last time Logan's murder and how Johnny and Lulu were released which was still a mystery to her.

"I'm sorry blonde one, I had all these extra tickets so I just thought why not make a whole double date out of it?" He slightly shrugged his shoulders looking for her to forgive him, "The Jackal is sorry Maximista please don't dump him."

Maxie burst out laughing, "Oh please Spinelli," she tenderly touched his arm, "I'm not going to break up with you over this," she sweetly giggled at how innocent he was, he was right when he said he had never had a girlfriend.

She put her hands on his cheeks, "No you were right, this is something the four of us needed to do."

"Are you sure?" He asked her in doubt willing to do whatever she wanted to do to make it up to her, "We can just do our own thing, I'll give them the tickets."

"No, no, it's okay," she insisted, "I like Johnny, just as a friend," she felt like she had to reiterate that, "And I can get along with Lulu for you."

He humorously looked at her like that wasn't possible, even when he asked Lulu to get along with Maxie, he knew it was long shot, "If you say so."

"What? I can and I'm gonna prove it to you now," she playfully hit his chest and walked to her dresser grabbing her jeans, "You get dressed while I try to convince Mac not to go postal on them."

"Deal," he watched her pull on her skimpy blue jeans that looked absolutely fabulous on her, his mind drifting to naughty thoughts while his conscience was telling him to stop it.

She turned to him buttoning up her jeans seeing him in yet another locked stare, "Spinelli…"

He shook his head, "Yeah? Um…" His hands flailed around, "Me get dressed, yes I'll see you down there."

She giggled at how weird he was being, "Okay," she winked walking backwards to the doorway where she smiled brightly, "Don't take too long."

Spinelli walked towards her with a playful smile on his face, "Or else what blonde one?" He couldn't believe he was talking…well dirty? No that wasn't it, he couldn't believe he was actually flirting with her and doing a damn good job of it too.

She looked at him completely surprised, taken off guard, "Or else…"

"Or else?" He stopped in front of her one hand gripping the door and the other gripping the doorframe, smiling.

"Um…" She wasn't used to this Spinelli, the seductive one.

He playfully, but silently smiled as he noticed he made her squirm, he never thought he could make Maxie Jones squirm.

"Um…" He playfully mocked her as he leaned into to kiss her when his lips fell short of hers when Mac's voice ringed in there ears preventing them from going any further, to their annoyance, "Will you two get down here and explain to me just what the hell your four musketeers are up to!"

Her face turned red, blushing in embarrassment, "Um," her forehead leaned against his.

"Wow," Spinelli quietly let out at the timing.

She glanced up at him, "Rain check?" She was so turned on by this new seductive Spinelli that she didn't want to leave him anymore, she didn't even want to go to the concert, she just wanted to be with him, doing whatever.

He smiled "of course" and then moved to the side of her face that couldn't be seen by Mac and gently kissed her cheek.

"Any day now!" Mac shouted seeing the two upstairs in some kind of close something or another, which irritated him.

Maxie rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Coming dad!" She turned away from Spinelli and stormed down stairs.

"Maxie," Mac calmly said to her as she made her way over to them, "Why are they here?" He looked at Johnny and Lulu who looked at Maxie as she came into their vision glaring at her to do something.

"Dad," Maxie looked at him like he as usual was being over dramatic, "We're going on a double date."

"A what?" Mac looked at her wondering if heard right.

"Dad I think it's about time you get some hearing aids because that's the second time you done that today," she teased him.

"Maxie," he wasn't amused, "I don't understand this double date thing."

"Well," Maxie was more than happy to explain, "It's when two couples get together and…"

"I know what it is, but I don't understand why you and Spinelli are going on a group date with them," he glanced at Johnny and Lulu where Lulu quickly explained, "Well Spinelli is my best friend and it's been a long time since he and I have hung out and we thought that it would be nice if we could all get together and get to know each other…"

"But you and my daughter hate each other," Mac looked at Lulu like he wasn't stupid.

"Right dad," Maxie touched his shoulder, "We do hate each other, but we both care about Spinelli."

Mac glanced away from Maxie to Johnny, "And how do you fit into this?"

"Um," Johnny wanted to laugh he thought Mac knew that he and Lulu were together, "I'm Lulu's boyfriend."

Mac rolled his eyes, "I know that, but you aren't friends with Spinelli."

Lulu interrupted Johnny's response with a 'aw ha' look at Mac as if he had found his answer right there, "That's the point of a double date."

Mac hated the way the three of them were insulting his intelligence as if he didn't know what was really going on, they think they had won they think they had something on him, but they didn't, he knew what this was about, "You're all here to talk about you're murder pact."

"What murder pact?" Maxie crossed her arms pretending to look offended by such accusation.

"The pact you all had to keep Logan's murder a secret," he looked at them like they hadn't fooled anyone, "Some how I know you're all connected to what happen to that man and I for one will not have you discussing it in my house."

"Ha!" Maxie laughed, "Oh please dad! This isn't I know what you did last summer!"

Spinelli to the rescue! "Commissioner sir!"

Mac glared at him as he dashed into the room, "And I know you deleted all the security footage."

Spinelli laughed as he came up from behind him hesitantly putting his hand on Mac's shoulder, "Sir, you're just upset that you're favorite rock star is here and you don't have tickets to his concert."

"No," Mac quickly jumped to his own defense.

"Come on, I saw your record collection, you are a huge fan of Eli Love and he's here and you don't have tickets," Spinelli insisted that was the brunt of his anger.

Mac quickly caught on, "That may be true, but I know all of you…" He stopped talking as soon as Spinelli flashed tickets in front of him. "You…you have tickets to see…"

"Eli? You bet I do, in fact I have two extra tickets for you and a lady friend of yours to go if you want them," he tempted Mac.

Maxie looked at Spinelli with fury in her eyes hitting his arm wondering why just did that, "Ow." Spinelli looked back at her annoyed wondering why she just did that. She looked at him with eyes to stop it, but he looked away from her to Mac, "They're yours if you want them."

"Really?" Mac looked at him surprised, but at the same time knew this was some kind of game.

"Dad! You have a lady friend?" Maxie wondered why he didn't say anything.

"Uh…" Mac looked away from her, "What's your proposal?"

"It's easy," Spinelli smiled, "One you don't bother all four of us at the concert, if you happen to see me kissing your daughter you can't tackle me or send the swat team on me."

"And second," Mac grunted hating what Spinelli just said.

"Second, you stop harassing us over the unhinged one's death. Johnny and Lulu were exonerated and you can't think that sweet innocent Maxie over here," Spinelli put his arm around her waist, "You can't honestly think she would get herself involved in such a crime."

Mac gloated, _of course she would_, "No, but you, you would."

"The Jackal is far too busy to be concerning himself with the unhinged one's murder, now do you want the tickets or not?" Spinelli dangled the tickets in front of him.

"Fine," he agreed taking the tickets from Spinelli's fingers, "It's a deal, you four have fun and be careful deal, especially you sweetheart," Mac kissed Maxie's forehead.

"I will dad, now who is this lady friend?" She asked as he seemed to be in a rush to grab his car keys off the hook near the door, "Um…You'll see darling."

"Dad?" She looked at him as he rushed passed Johnny and Lulu, she hadn't seen him this excited in a long time.

Johnny and Lulu looked away from Mac who was now pulling out of the driveway, "Good thinking Spinelli." Lulu grinned at him.

"Why thank you fair Lulu, just being the Jackal P.I. and all," he was just following one of the sacred 46 rules of detective work.

Johnny sighed in relief, "Well it worked," he looked at Spinelli and Maxie smiling, "Can we come in now?"

"Yeah," Maxie motioned and Johnny put his hand on Lulu's back slowly walking in with her.

Maxie closed the door before glancing up at Spinelli while Lulu and Johnny walked into the living room, "That was brilliant, but Spinelli why did you tell him we were going to the concert! Now he's going to be watching us like a hawk and…"

Spinelli frustratingly yelled back at her, "Maximista what was I supposed to say?"

"Um I don't know," she shouted back flailing her arms around in annoyance, "Anything but where we're going tonight."

"Well I wouldn't have had to mention it if you hadn't said we were double dating!"

"That's beside the point," she pointed her finger at him trying to act as if he wasn't right, "You didn't give him the tickets to stop him from asking us about Logan," she walked towards him eyeing him with caution like she knew what he was up to, "You wanted him to like you."

He looked at her with no intention of repeating "Is that so wrong?"

"Is it so wrong that I would like your paternal one to like me?"

She hated it when he looked at her with those sweet blue eyes, how could she be mad at him? "No…" She wandered her eyes away from them, "It's not."

"I'm sorry Maxie," he sincerely apologized where she looked up at him and he continued, "It was seriously the only thing I could think of."

"And it worked, it was genius so," she rolled her eyes slowly putting her arms around him, "I guess you're forgiven…" She playfully smiled at him.

"You guess?" He playfully looked at her like he shouldn't need to be forgiven, he didn't do anything wrong.

She jokingly sighed at the way Spinelli was making her admit that she was wrong to get mad at him, "Alright, you did nothing wrong to begin with Spin."

He looked at the way she hated being wrong, the way she removed her arms from around his neck, the way she rolled her eyes in a tantrum and looked away from him it made him laugh.

She heard his laughter getting louder and looked back up at him, "Stop it," she tried to say seriously, but ended up giggling, "Stop it Spin."

"Make me," he playfully said having just thought the words and wondered what exactly she would do in response.

"Oh I'll make you," she leaned in putting her hands on his arms.

He playfully retorted, "Oh you will?"

"Uh huh," she put her hands on his cheeks playfully nodding 'yes' until she pulled him into a kiss he wasn't expecting, Damian Spinelli liked this flirting thing.

Lulu cleared her throat never believing that she'd see her best friend and worst enemy actually kissing or to her it was more like making out.

Spinelli pulled away to Maxie's annoyance, "Lulu…" He nervously laughed, "Um…"

Lulu tried to restrain herself, "Not to burst your bubble or anything, but we do have stuff to talk about…"

"Right," Spinelli took Maxie's hand and walked into the living room where Lulu joined Johnny on the couch.

"It's about time," Johnny sarcastically joked, "I was beginning to think Lulu and I should just meet you there."

Maxie rolled her eyes as she and Spinelli took a seat on the opposite couch from them, "So Spinelli…" She turned to him, "Care to explain why we're all here? Together?"

"Right," Spinelli nodded looking at Johnny and Lulu, "They didn't tell you how or why you were released did they?"

"No," Lulu nodded, "Jason just said you had this plan and it worked so what did you do?"

"Black mail," Spinelli smiled kind of proud of himself because it sounded so dark and bad ass.

"Black mail?" Lulu slightly glared at him wondering what exactly he meant.

"Lulu," Spinelli took a deep breath, "I never…I never got rid of the evidence connecting him to Rick Webber's murder."

Maxie quickly glanced back at Spinelli, "Spin!" She thought it was genius, "I totally forgot about that!" She completely forgot that just a year ago she, Cooper and Logan had formulated a plan to get blackmail on Scott Baldwin where they realized he had killed Rick not Laura.

Spinelli nervously smiled at Maxie and then back at Lulu who was slightly mad, "Lulu it was the only way to get you out," he could see she was a obviously mad, "Lulu," he sighed.

"No I asked you to delete it," she looked away from him annoyed.

"And I knew Scott Baldwin wasn't going to go away, so I kept it and when all this happened, I was in the hospital talking with Stone Cold and all the evidence that we potentially had either a) wasn't amicable in court or b) was substantial," he looked at her like they had no other choice, "Black mail was the easiest, the quickest, the only way to get Scotty to back down."

Maxie looked away from Spinelli's somewhat upset face over the fact that Lulu couldn't accept what he did, "Lulu you don't get to be angry at him."

Lulu looked up at her to really mind her own business, "I don't? That evidence could tear my family apart Maxie."

"So?" Maxie looked at her like the chance, the risk was worth it.

"So?" Lulu looked at her like how she could be so careless about it, "My dad…"

"Who's never around…" Maxie pointed out.

Lulu glared at her, "Yes, but he would kill Scotty not to mention Nicholas and Lucky…"

"Oh my god Lulu," Maxie rolled her eyes, "You aren't the slightest bit grateful are you?"

Lulu softened her tone, "No," Lulu looked at Spinelli where Maxie interrupted, "Spinelli was lying in the hospital recovering from a hit that was put on me because you two couldn't just stick to the plan."

"Maxie," Johnny looked at her sincerely sorry about that, but she continued to lash out at them, "He risked his life to save me and your ass and this is how you repay him? By telling him he should have done something else to get you two out of the mess you created?" She looked at Lulu in disbelief; she sure as hell wasn't going to put up with Lulu tonight if this was how she was going to act, like an ungrateful brat.

Lulu glared at her, "What I was about to say before Maxie interrupted me was that…" She looked at Spinelli, "I'm thankful you helped us out Spinelli and if you say it was the only thing…the only option you had then I believe you and I believe you disposed of the information in an appropriate manner."

He nodded assuredly, "Jason and I have buried the evidence, it will go with us to our graves."

Lulu as well as Maxie could see Spinelli was very serious about this, "No one will know what happened, so you…" He smiled at Lulu, "And you," he looked a Maxie squeezing her hand, "Have nothing to worry about because…" He looked at Johnny, "He and I have taken care of everything."

"He's right," Johnny nodded remembering back to a conversation he and Spinelli had in the hospital just before Maxie came to pick him up, "It's over, no one will ever connect us to the Logan's murder."

Johnny then changed to a lighter happier note, "So it's time we let this go once and for all," Johnny put his arm around Lulu, "And have fun tonight because I don't think any of us have had a moment to relax since all this happened."

Johnny slightly laughed turning his attention to Lulu, who grinned at him as she leaned into kiss him, "That's for sure."

Spinelli smiled seeing how happy Lulu was, happy that she had finally found someone that seemed to love her, her newfound happiness reminded him of the happiness right next to him, Maxie.

Johnny and Lulu leaned out of their kiss seeing the two in a lock stare as if they knew something they didn't, "So…" Johnny started to speak, "Concert starts in like two-two and a half hours?"

"Yeah," Spinelli nodded looking away from Maxie, "So you guys want to get something to eat before or after or…"

"Before," Maxie and Lulu said at the same time.

Spinelli and Johnny looked at each other surprised, "Alright before it is."

Maxie and Lulu awkwardly laughed where Johnny suggested they'd go to Kelly's and they all agreed.

"Well," Maxie got up from the couch, "I'm gonna go upstairs and finish up."

"Okay take your time," Spinelli smiled kissing her cheek and then let go of her hand as she walked away from him.

Turning his attention away from Maxie who made her way upstairs he looked at Johnny and Lulu, "So you guys want something to drink, it must have been hot standing out there having Mr. Commissioner sir yell at you."

"Yes it was," Johnny laughed motioning to Spinelli to lead them into the kitchen.

Walking into the kitchen Spinelli grabbed a pitcher of water from the fridge, "So," he looked up at them as he set on the table, "Was it as romantic as they say it is?"

"Being on the run?" Johnny clarified before laughing, "It has its perks."

Spinelli turned away from to the cabinet as Johnny was beginning to nibble her neck, "Enough said."

Johnny goofily smiled as he put his hands around Lulu's waist, "So how are you doing, the shoulder I mean?"

"Um," Spinelli turned to them setting the glasses down, "Sometimes it doesn't hurt," he lifted the pitcher up with his hurt arm, still practicing the techniques from physical therapy, "And other times it does." He glanced down at the pitcher that was quietly clinging against the glasses.

"Spinelli," Lulu looked at him not to strain himself, "It's…"

"Okay," Spinelli smiled setting the pitcher down, "The Jackal is supposed to be using his arm."

He lifted the pitcher up and put it in the fridge where he then grabbed an orange soda and the three made a silent toast to how far they, including Maxie, had come in the past couple of weeks.

-

Maxie was happily smiling as she looked at herself in the mirror of her room, she woke up today feeling less tired then she had in the past two weeks which she knew was only because he was here. She remembered last night snuggling up with him in bed feeling his arm wrapped around her while her hand lied on his bare chest and how all she could remember was feeling safe, feeling comfortable enough to let her guard down and cry the tears of how she longed for this moment.

Looking in her jewelry box she saw the small golden hoop earrings that Georgie had given her for Christmas and decided to wear them. Whether they went with her out fit or not, it didn't matter, she wanted to have a part of Georgie with her tonight to experience the magical first date that she never got the chance to have with him.

Maxie found herself doing that all the time, finding ways to bring Georgie with her. If she couldn't be in her heart at times then she brought a picture or a small object that reminded her of the amazing woman her sister was, the strong brave woman who died, but whose spirit never left her. The woman who she aspired to be, but could never become…until that is Spinelli came along who believed that she was every bit of her sister. No one had ever convinced her of that before. They had always led her to believe that she was completely different from Georgie that they were only similar in relation to their parents, but never in heart, mind, body or soul. Those differences never stopped her and Georgie from being close, no; they were friends, the best. Even when she cruelly and purposely set out to hurt her sister when all Georgie was trying to do was look out for her, like on that one December evening; there was never any doubt that Maxie loved her.

For some reason as Maxie put each earring in, that connection she always longed for her and Georgie to have that sisterly connection that was never established because she felt they were so different, she being the black sheep, Georgie being Ms. Perfect, for some reason, she felt that connection now. Even with Georgie gone, Maxie felt closer to her then she ever had before and maybe it was because of Spinelli, Georgie had loved him and now so did she.

Standing proud in front of the mirror, Georgie's present looked great on her, the golden hoops really seemed to match perfectly with her red top, they were small, but they added just enough shine to really bring out the bronze eye shadow she had on. She smiled in approval of how she looked and then walked to her closet of shoes and picked out a pair of red sandals just to match her shirt, she wanted to look perfect tonight, perfect for him.

Grabbing her purse off the bed she walked to the door where she suddenly stopped, _damn it not again. _Her hand on her forehead she leaned her other hand against the doorframe taking a deep breath as she felt dizzy, _come on Maxie pull yourself together for at least one night and then you can see a doctor tomorrow_, but her body had other plans.

She had never felt like this before as she calmly told herself not to get sick. Her hand leaned against the doorframe as she took breath after breath hoping if she slowly relaxed that eventually it would pass, but as she dropped her hand from her forehead to her stomach, not because her stomach hurt, that was the odd thing, it didn't ache like she had the flu, she felt the queasiness turning into gagging and gagging turning into…vomiting.

-

About fifteen minutes had passed since Maxie walked upstairs to get ready and Spinelli began to wonder what was taking her so long, "I'll be right back."

He motioned to get up from the table when Johnny interrupted his movement, "Eh let Lulu check up on her."

"Why?" Lulu looked at Johnny.

"Because you said you were going to try to be her friend for our sakes," Johnny pointed to Spinelli and himself, "Both of you did so you should go up there and have a girl talk with her."

"A girl talk?" She wanted to laugh, not at the action, but the way Johnny said 'girl talk', it made her smile.

"Yeah Lulu," Johnny began to explain, "I don't know, talk about makeup or boys or each other's outfits…"

Lulu chuckled as she got up from the table, "Well I can tell you right now she's going to say that my outfit is hideous and totally five years ago." She mocked her, but stopped when she saw Spinelli's glare, "I'm sorry Spin…I'm going…" She kissed Johnny's cheek and then left the kitchen.

Johnny waited till she was walking up the stairs before turning to him, "So you got the envelope right? With the cash and keys?"

Spinelli nodded, "Yup."

"Any chance you want to go get the car now?" Johnny excitedly raised his eyebrows, "You can pick up Maxie as a man with a sweet car?"

Spinelli grinned, "That's not a bad idea," he'd definitely like to make tonight more special, he'd like to make it a night to remember.

-

Lulu walked into Maxie's room, "You ready…" _To go?_ She was about to say when she saw Maxie wasn't in her room.

"Okay," Lulu said to herself walking out of the room when she saw the bathroom door slightly creaked open.

She gently pushed open the door expecting to see her putting her make up on, "Hey Max-ie," she paused when she saw Maxie on her knees hunched over the toilet.

Maxie quickly looked up at her worried that she had been disturbed especially by Lulu, but was thankful it hadn't been Spinelli that walked in on her.

Lulu quickly closed the door behind her concerned, "Maxie…"

Just as Maxie was about to say something she felt herself needing to throw up again and so as she hunched over the toilet, Lulu couldn't just stand back and do nothing so she grabbed a near by stool and sat on it touching Maxie's shoulder for support, why she was doing this she had no idea, she was almost sure that Maxie would instantly shake off her touch, but she didn't.

When the sickness passed Maxie flushed the toilet, desperately hoping that whatever this was would go away and also praying that Lulu wasn't going to bring her any trouble, at least not today.

Lulu held out a little pink towel, "Here."

Maxie took the towel refusing to look at her as she wiped her mouth, "Thanks." Was all she could mutter out, she really wasn't in the mood to be snippety to her, no she just wanted this feeling she had to go away without anyone knowing what was going on.

Lulu slowly nodded clasping her hands together wondering what she should do, "You want me to get Spinelli?" She had no idea what was going on with Maxie, but whatever it was she felt that Spinelli should know, Spinelli was her best friend, he'd want to know if Maxie wasn't on her A game.

Maxie looked up at her, looking pale and tired, "No please don't."

"Maxie," Lulu kindly sighed, "Spinelli would want to know if your not feeling well," she got up from the stool to the door putting her hand on the doorknob, "And believe me Eli Love is from the 80's his music sucks you wouldn't be missing anything."

"Don't," Maxie begged.

Lulu as sweetly as she could without trying to hint that she actually cared about her looked at her thinking this was just the flu or some sickness, "Spinelli would love more then anything to take care of you." She tried to convince her while opening the door, but Maxie quickly sprung got up from the floor putting her hand against the door, "I said no."

The door closed and Lulu took her hand off the doorknob, "Maxie you were throwing up, I think that's a reason to be worried."

Maxie put her hand on her forehead briefly closing her eyes trying to calm her stressful self down, "I'm fine…"

Lulu looked at her like this was stupid, she obviously wasn't fine, not just because she had just been vomiting, but she was white as a ghost and looked tired, "Maxie you don't look fine."

"God I wish everyone would stop saying that!" Maxie walked passed her to the sink where she lied her hands on the counter.

Lulu turned to her slightly cautious, "Maxie what's going on?"

Maxie looked down at the water in the sink wishing she hadn't exploded like that, "Nothing."

This girl's stubbornness was really beginning to irritate her, Spinelli had practically come back from the dead for her and here she was ignoring her health all for the sake of what, for Spinelli not worry about her, he'd kill himself if she died on him.

"Okay," Lulu abruptly locked the door and then turned to her, "I think it is something if you don't want Spinelli to know."

"Lulu this is none of your business," she turned to her leaning her back on the counter.

"Like hell it is," Lulu stomped her foot before pointing at the door while looking straight at Maxie, yelling at her, "Spinelli came back from the dead to be with you Maxie! To be with you!"

Lulu found herself becoming a little emotional, frustrated that Maxie seemed to be hiding something that she was afraid would only end up hurting Spinelli, "And if you're sick or dying he'd want to know Maxie, okay? He'd want to help you, take care of you, he'd want to do anything because he loves you."

Lulu wiped the tears out of her eyes, "And as much as I hate that, as much as I hate that he is so attached and close to you, I know it would literally break him and I mean really break him…to the point where I don't think he'd ever be the same if something happened to you."

Lulu saw Maxie hiccup her tears at something so profoundly sweet yet a hundred percent true, "So you tell me right now what the hell is going on before I bring him up here and we'll all have another four freakin musketeer meeting."

Maxie wiped the few tears in her eyes before resting her hand on her cheek taking a deep breath. Lulu's words had moved her, not because everything she said right, but because she could honestly see how much perhaps Lulu cared for him, it was the first time she actually could believe Lulu being his friend.

Lulu softly looked at her, "Maxie just tell me, okay? I'll help you find a way to tell Spinelli whatever it is," Lulu begged of her wising she would just say it.

Maxie turned away from her leaning hands back on the counter and looking down at the sink, she wished she knew what was wrong with her, she really did. She huffed in annoyance wishing Lulu wasn't being so nice and caring, wishing she would just leave her alone, but at the same time needing her to keep this under wraps at last for tonight, "Lulu." She said with somewhat sadness to her voice, "I don't know what's wrong me."

"Well have you seen a doctor?" Lulu walked towards her, standing right behind her trying to be a little more supportive for Spinelli's sake.

Maxie somewhat looked up at her in the mirror with stupidity for if she had seen a doctor they wouldn't be having this conversation, "Obviously not Lulu."

Lulu realized that was a dumb question taking in her sarcasm, "Right blonde moment right there," she giggled and so did Maxie.

"Okay," Lulu tried to think of something smart to say, "How long have you been feeling like this?"

Maxie took a deep breath, "I don't know…" She ran her hands on the water before grabbing another washcloth, "Maybe two weeks?"

"Two weeks?" Lulu looked at her now thinking Maxie was the dumb blonde one in the room, "You've been feeling like this for two weeks and haven't seen a doctor?"

Maxie huffed at Lulu's harsh tone, drying her hands off and turning to her, "No Lulu I haven't." Maxie touched her forehead while setting the washcloth on the counter and then slowly looking up at her to explain, "I've been pulling a double shift at work…" No thanks to you, "And then coming to see Spinelli, having to deal with all he's been going through and," Maxie crossed her arms feeling the tears in her eyes, "It's just been really hard seeing him in pain and trying to remember every time he lashes out that it's not the real him, it just breaks my heart because it's my fault."

"No it's not," Lulu sincerely looked at her, "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"I'll go with that," Maxie muttered with tears in her throat.

"Gee thanks," Lulu joked.

Maxie giggled before softly quietly saying, "I've been too worried about him to even think about myself, I don't sleep or eat…"

"Not taking care of yourself is only going to worry him further," Lulu told her.

"I know, I know," Maxie turned away from her to wash her face, "But…" She dried her face off before looking up at herself in the mirror, "I think I'm just dehydrated. I don't think I've caught something from the hospital, I don't feel ill like that."

Lulu realized it then and there, "Oh my god Maxie," she could barely say it herself, she was just getting used to the idea of Spinelli and her together, "You're pregnant."

Maxie quickly turned to her with fear yet anger that Lulu had even muttered the words, "Don't you dare say that!"

"Well what else could it be?" Lulu shouted before listing the symptoms on her fingers, "You're tired, you don't eat which I assume is because you're probably too nauseous to eat anything right?"

"Maybe," Maxie frustratingly looked away from her.

"You've just been throwing up and vomiting is like a clear sign, you're pale and you slept with Spinelli like…" She was waiting for Maxie to fill in the blanks.

Maxie reluctantly looked at her muttering, "three almost four weeks ago."

"Right so you'd definitely be along far enough…"

"I'm not pregnant Lulu okay? This is just crazy talk here," Maxie turned away from her grabbing her makeup from a drawer.

"Oh right so all those symptoms you have are of what?" Lulu looked at her to stop being so problematic about this, "Maxie you are pregnant!"

Maxie swiftly turned to her, "Okay, first," Maxie walked towards her, "Stop shouting, they're going to here you, and second, I'm not pregnant."

"Did you take a test?" Lulu looked at her like you don't know until you take a test.

"No," she looked at her like it didn't matter, "But Lulu I can't be pregnant. I got my you-know what last week."

"How heavy was it?" Lulu asked having no problem being so blunt about the subject.

"What?" Maxie asked knowing what she obviously meant, but there was no way she was going to talk to her about this, "Lulu I'm not going to talk about my menstrual cycle with you that's kind of weird." Maxie began to laugh at the embarrassment of such topic.

That was always a dead give away to Lulu, whenever Maxie turned a serious issue into a laugh it meant she was trying to change the subject, "How light was it?"

"Lulu let's drop this," this was really not funny anymore.

"Was it about four days Maxie?" Lulu realized she was going to have to pull teeth to get it out of her.

Maxie looked at her not amused by her knowledge.

"Was it like a regular period?"

"No, but…"

"How long?"

Maxie looked away from her with her arms crossed, "Three days."

"And really light?"

Maxie rolled her eyes "Maybe."

"Maybe? Yes or no?" Lulu was honestly trying to help her and the sooner Maxie cooperated the sooner they could work something out.

"Yes," she annoyingly answered looking at Lulu with slight uncertainty, her confidence from yesterday, slowly dying, "It was light, really light."

"And it probably wasn't a regular shade of red…"

Maxie looked at her like this was really getting uncomfortable, "Lulu."

"Maxie I can't help you unless I know all the facts," Lulu desperately explained to her.

"Fine! It seemed a little different."

"And if you were counting the days right now, ignoring last week, would your period be late,"

"Would it?"

"This is so annoying," really, Lulu was becoming obnoxious.

"Maxie," Lulu softly looked at her.

"Don't ask me to answer that okay? You're making a lot of good points, actually sounding smart, but I got my period okay!"

Lulu comically grinned, how couldn't someone who pulled off a fake pregnancy, who did research on it, not know they were pregnant, "Maxie take it from someone who knows, you did not get your period which I thought you would know from you history…"

"Lulu you promised…"

"I promised not to bring up your history in front of Spinelli," Lulu walked towards her, "Maxie take it from me whose been pregnant whose gone through exactly what you're going through…" She looked her right in the eye, "You did not have your period."

"Oh? And what exactly did I have Dr. Spencer?"

Lulu laughed in disbelief at this woman's sarcasm, "I can't remember what Dr. Lee called it, something implementation bleeding, I don't know."

"Thanks Lulu that really helps," Maxie sarcastically motioned having no idea what that meant.

Lulu frustratingly argued back, "Sorry Maxie, but it's been about two years since the last time I looked at this stuff."

"Which means you don't know what you're talking about, you're getting me all worried and worked up over nothing!" Maxie looked away from her wanting any excuse not to follow her advice.

"Just because I don't remember what the process is called doesn't mean I don't remember what it felt like being pregnant," Lulu turned away from her walking towards the bathtub trying to remember what Dr. Lee had told her.

Maxie turned to her seeing she was deep in thought, Lulu was the only person she had to talk to about this, "What do you remember?" She calmly asked.

Lulu put her hand on her forehead thinking it would help her remember something, "I think Dr. Lee said it was something to about the egg being fertilized…"

"Lulu fertilizer is for plants!" Maxie panicky shouted for her to give her an answer that made more sense.

"Well give me a gosh darn minute!" Lulu annoyingly screamed back at her.

"Okay sorry!" Maxie refrained turning away from her to give her the time she needed.

"I remember!" Lulu turned to her, "Okay bleeding usual means the egg is being implanted in the uterus."

"Okay," Maxie waited for her to say more but Lulu didn't know anything else to say.

"Well that still doesn't mean anything," Maxie continued to look at her in disbelief.

"Maxie," Lulu sighed wondering how many times they going to run through.

Maxie unintentionally snapped at her, "Lulu I think I would know if I was pregnant, okay?"

"Yeah I thought you would too, but it sounds to me like you're the lady who doesn't know she's pregnant until she's giving birth on the toilet."

"This is not a time to joke Lulu," she crossed her arms before turning away from her with her eyes closed realizing she was pregnant, _shit_.

Lulu could see she was lightly crying, this was not something she expected, "Maxie…" She gently called her name.

Maxie turned to her wiping the tears from her eyes, "I can't believe this is happening."

Lulu could see Maxie was just as freaked out as she was when she found out she was pregnant, "Alright…" Lulu scratched her head, "This is what we're going to do because you're not in any shape to go out right now, do you think you can pull yourself together for five minutes?"

She nodded feeling tears in her eyes feeling like all the security she felt yesterday after Spinelli and her talked was all gone, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to buy us some time," she turned to the door unlocking it, "Wait…" She turned back to Maxie, "Let's quickly fix your hair and makeup otherwise Spinelli will know something is up, he has an…"

"Eye for detail, I know," she slightly laughed.

"Yeah," Lulu laughed.

Maxie turned her back to her standing in front of the mirror where Lulu pulled out her hair tie and said, "We'll just fix you up and tell Spinelli and Johnny to go out to Kelly's and then we'll call them twenty minutes later and tell them we ate something here and that they should get their own dinner and in and hour and a half we'll have you all ready to go."

Maxie slightly smiled as Lulu fixed her hair, she didn't entirely understand Lulu's behavior, "Why are you doing this?"

Lulu glanced at her in the mirror while twisting the scrunchy and pulling the hair through it, "Because…when I found out I was pregnant, your sister befriended me, I mean she was nice to me and she didn't have to be. She could have been like you and made my life a living hell for what I did to her, how I lied about Diego and…it was such a long time ago…" Lulu tightened the scrunchy and then leaned away, "Anyway she was nice to me. I was freaking out and she was there, took me to the clinic, picked me up from the abortion, sometimes I still don't know why she did that except for Dillon."

Maxie bit her lip while crossing her arms, "She did it because she was Georgie. Always wanting to help everyone out even if they did something horrible to her," she softly smiled wiping a tear from her eye, how she really needed Georgie right now.

"Yeah," Lulu slowly nodded, "So maybe I'm doing this because I want to return the same favor to Georgie or maybe because Spinelli is my best friend and he loves you…but maybe I'm doing this because I know what you're going through and maybe just this once for tonight we can break the truce we made last night and you can let me be your friend."

Maxie took a deep breath while nodding, "I…I would really like that."

Lulu happily smiled, "Come on." She opened the door and gently put her hand on Maxie's back walking her out where they heard the sounds of a football game on.

"I never really understood this sport," Spinelli glanced up at him seeing he wasn't as enthused either.

"Neither did I, I don't understand what the flags mean or offside's, I don't even get how to play it," Johnny thought that's what he meant.

Spinelli watched as he glanced back at the TV and then stupidly stared at him wondering how he couldn't understand such a simple game, but this wasn't the time to be insulting, Lulu was making an effort to befriend Maxie so he had to do the same with Johnny, "Oh well I meant like why guys bond over it, it's just a game, kicking and running with a football back and forth across the field, I don't see the point to it."

"Right," Johnny nodded before his seeing Lulu and Maxie appear at the top of the stairs.

"We were wondering what was taking you guys so long," Johnny grinned at Spinelli, "What did I tell you they're already best friends!"

Spinelli laughed where the two glanced up at Maxie and Lulu at the same time, "Everything okay? Spinelli looked at Maxie who smiled, "Yup everything's fine."

"Well in that case," Johnny got off the couch where Spinelli got up seconds later turning the TV off, "We thought we'd get takeout from Kelly's and then bring it back here, is that okay?"

"Perfect," Lulu smiled, "You read our minds," no kidding.

Spinelli reached for the envelopes in his briefcase and then looked up at Maxie, "The usual?"

"Yeah," Maxie smiled, "You know what I like so…"

"That I do and I assume…" He looked at Lulu, "He knows what you like?"

"Yup!" Lulu smiled.

"Alright," Johnny grinned, "Um we might run a few errands so we'll be back in an hour and still have plenty of time to eat and get ready so…"

"Yeah sure take you time," Lulu grinned wishing they'd hurry up.

"Okay," Johnny turned away from them looking at Spinelli who nodded that he had the stuff.

Spinelli closed the front door behind him as he followed Johnny from behind, "So how far is this place?"

"Not too far," Johnny walked around to the driver's seat, "About twenty minutes away, fifteen if I go above the speed limit."

Spinelli laughed thinking he was joking as he opened the car door and then sat in the passenger's seat, "If you don't mind I'd like to make a quick stop at the hospital and drop off a few of these extra tickets, which reminds me," he took out two tickets, "Here are your tickets."

"Thank you," Johnny grinned putting them in his pocket before putting his seat belt on and starting up the car up.

"So tonight's the first date?" Johnny smiled as the engine roared.

"Yup," Spinelli nervously smiled as he put two tickets in his wallet.

"I wish Lulu and I could have had a first date," he remembered how Sonny had kidnapped him thus preventing him from meeting Lulu.

"Who says you still can't?" Spinelli suggested as he put his seat belt on.

Johnny looked at him curious, "You know Spinelli, I like the way you think."

Spinelli smiled at the compliment, but before he could say anything else, Johnny put his foot on the gas pedal and car sped off sending Spinelli back in his seat.

-

Once they heard the front door close, Maxie sat on her bed unsure of what to do, but Lulu thank goodness knew what to do, "You have to take a test Maxie that's the only way to know for sure."

"No I can't take a test Lulu," Maxie looked up at her taking another deep breath feeling the resentment of this taking over her.

"Because you don't have one? The guys have left we'll go out and…"

"I have one Lulu," Maxie regretfully said.

"You do?" Lulu was a little surprised walking towards her.

Maxie nodded, "He guessed, yesterday."

"Oh," Lulu sat on the bed turning to her.

"I passed out yesterday, he caught me, set me on the couch and when I woke up he asked me to take a nap and get rest because I've been acting like this all week," she remembered how sweet he was to her when she woke up in a bit of a panic, "I guess while I was sleeping, he looked up my symptoms and got the idea that I might be pregnant."

"Did you guys use…" _Protection?_

Maxie looked up at her with only simple explanation for why they didn't really, "Anthony kidnapped me that day Lulu."

Lulu looked at her obviously understand that she wasn't exactly thinking clearly, truth be told they all weren't.

"I was really scared and he was right there, I told him everything Lulu, everything about Logan and how Anthony was going to kill me if he found out I was lying and Spinelli said that no one was going to hurt me, he said he'd protect me and," she looked up at Lulu, "I believed him."

Maxie looked away from her at her hands that were nervously clasped together, "So he hugged me and told me everything I wanted to hear and one thing led to another, I kissed him and he kissed me back and…"

Lulu softly smiled kind of trying to imagine Spinelli kissing her for she knew he had probably longed for that intimate moment.

"What?" Maxie asked wondering why she seemed kind of giddy.

"Nothing, just," she turned to her, "Him kissing you…"

"I know I didn't expect it…" She really didn't, she thought he would have stopped her.

"You didn't?" Lulu looked at her wondering how she could have been so oblivious, "Maxie he's been head over heels in love with you for months."

She knew Spinelli loved her, but she thought it might have been a sudden realization like hers, "What?"

"Yeah," Lulu slowly nodded yes, "He's been going all over town asking Jason, Diane, Patrick, Coleman advice on how to win you."

"What?" She laughed, "How do you know this?"

"Carly told me," Lulu insisted, "When I got back she told me everything that I missed. She said that Spinelli came to her for advice on how to win the blonde one's heart, he even came to Jax, that's why he looked so funny at the Haunted Star," she giggled.

"So that's why," she sighed, she hadn't thought much about it since Claudia had mentioned it the day Spinelli got shot, but now it all made sense.

"As soon as I was released, Jason drove me to the hospital and caught me all up on Spinelli's life which I've been so busy with my life I had no idea that he had been going to Diane or Patrick, Coleman and Eli Love for advice," she felt guilty not being the friend he deserved to have, she might have been able to help him.

"And then…" Lulu turned a little sad, "Well Jason never explained what happened, what changed his mind, but he said that Spinelli the entire week before he got shot, was just depressed, he said Spinelli had given up all hope that you would ever see him the way he saw you."

Maxie couldn't believe it now, she had literally broken his heart when she told them they could only be friends on the overlook, oh how she felt guilty now for unintentionally hurting him.

Lulu continued to explain, "He said just before he left Spinelli the day he got shot that he had told him to just accept it."

Maxie rolled her eyes, _typical Jason to encourage him to give up_.

"But Spinelli wasn't exactly warming up to the advice so he said that times like these bring people together and that maybe after all this was over, you would look back on how great of a friend he's been and notice him," she looked up at Maxie, "Guess he was right."

"Maxie?" Lulu looked at her who seemed upset almost a little unsure about something, "Maxie you do love him right?" Lulu began to panic that Maxie might be pulling off one of her scams, "If you break his heart I swear."

"No Lulu," Maxie looked at her, "I do love him. I have no intention of ever breaking his heart believe me, I know a good thing when I have it and I might have been blind to let Cooper go, but I know what I have with Spinelli won't come again."

"Okay," Lulu sighed in relief, "So back to that night, you and Spinelli got together and did you use anything? Faulty condoms?" Lulu joked.

Maxie slightly laughed, "No, no faulty condoms because I don't think we used condoms."

"Were you two drinking?" _How could you not remember using a condom?_

"NO," she assured her, "We were very sober, but Lulu, I was scared, I was so scared that I didn't even take my pill that was how rattled I was…"

Maxie continued to faintly speak, "I just needed him and it was different then all the other times I've had sex."

"Like…" Lulu too wondered like Robin and Sam.

"It started out as comfort sex, I wanted to feel close to someone and Spinelli was just there," she nervously looked up from her hands, "I never wanted to have a friends with benefit's kind of friendship, I treasure Spinelli too much to just mess it up with sex…"

"Maxie are you saying that you and Spinelli might have actually…made love," that phrase 'made love' always sounded a little cheesy, but the way Maxie looked at her it was as if it was true in a way.

"When he and I were together it…it just felt right," she smiled unsure of what she was saying, but knowing it was the truth.

"It was like the last thing to do in all the other ways we've comforted each other and when we got together, we didn't look at each other sad or confused or hurt, like people do when they have comfort sex, it was like after we kissed we looked at each other with excitement and it was fun," she remembered how excited she was ripping off his belt.

"It's like…because I trusted him I knew he wasn't going to let me down because he always found a way to make me laugh or make me feel good about myself, he made me feel safe and he didn't disappoint," she sneaked a smile.

"So he was good!" Lulu excitedly shouted grabbing her hands.

"Yes! But shh...Don't tell anyone," Maxie giddily laughed.

"Why? Everyone thinks he's too awkward to be good at that, it would boost his ego, give him a reputation," and he could definitely use a population boost even though most people loved him.

"Yeah it would which means I'd have to fight extra hard to keep him," she joked.

"Well I doubt that because if you're pregnant Spinelli is going to be ecstatic he loves kids, when he held Jason's baby," Lulu paused, _shit_.

"Jason's baby?" Maxie looked at her wondering why it looked like she just spilled some juicy gossip.

"You didn't hear what I just said," she tried to change subjects, "Spinelli loves kids."

"No wait," Maxie had to revisit this, "Jason has a baby? Is it Elizabeth's son?" _Oh this was good._

"Maxie," Lulu looked at her seriously, "You can not tell anyone this, do you understand?"

"Does Lucky at least know?" Not because she would really get the satisfaction of telling him, actually she would, but he did deserve to know.

"Yes, he knows, Sam knows, Spinelli knows that's how I found out, but Maxie you have to swear you won't tell anyone," Lulu looked at her like she better keep her mouth shut.

"Who would I tell? It sounds like the entire town already knows so there's really no point," she looked at Lulu to calm down.

"Well I'm serious when I say you can't tell anyone because it's to keep Jake safe and if Spinelli found out that you told someone which could put that baby or Elizabeth and Cameron or even Jason in danger, he would never forgive you Maxie," Lulu continued to warn her, "He is loyal to a fault to Jason, I hope you understand that."

"I know he is," Maxie looked at her like no one needed to tell her, "I know he is loyal to him."

"No you don't understand Maxie," she seriously looked at her, "Anyone that betrays Jason betrays him."

"Lulu I'm not going to betray Jason by exposing a secret that everyone pretty much already knows, even I had a hunch and now I know the truth," she assured Lulu that telling her had compromised nothing.

"As I was saying," Lulu looked back up at her, "Spinelli loves babies, when he held Jake for the first time his whole face lit up."

Maxie could definitely picture him with a baby, a proud papa holding a baby girl or a baby boy, Spinelli would make such a good father, but what about her? She was twenty-one, she should be going to parties, having fun, working for Kate Howard, not trading that in for motherhood not at her age.

"So," Lulu tried to follow her gaze, "If you have a test, take it."

"I can't take a test," she nodded looking away from Lulu.

Lulu bit her tongue hating this constant round in circles game, "Maxie the sooner you know the sooner…"

"No," Maxie got off the bed with her back to Lulu as she wandered to her window.

"Maxie, I'll be right here with you, I'll even read the test for you, if you'd like," Lulu was just about to get off the bed to comfort her, but Maxie turned around.

"Lulu you should have seen him yesterday when he thought I was pregnant, he was scared to death," she knew that might have been an understatement, but Spinelli wasn't exactly his normal self.

"Everyone is at first Maxie, even the people that plan to have a baby have a moment where they freak out," she got up from the bed.

"No Lulu, he stopped talking Spinelli," she looked at him like he never does that, "He was all serious, I felt his heart, his heart was racing, he was freaked out."

"And you think because he freaked out that he's not going to want a baby?" She looked at her a little crazy.

"He's not ready to be a father and," she shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not ready to be a mother, I don't even know if I want to be a mother."

Lulu looked at her little skeptical wondering if that hint was what she thought it meant, "You know if you are pregnant he's going to want that baby."

She put her hands on her hips nodding her head as if she knew that, "That's what I'm worried about Lulu," she wiped the tears in her eyes, "I don't want a baby right now and I know how important family is to him and if I take that possibility away from him…He'll be crushed. He'll never be able to forgive me."

"Dillon forgave me."

"Dillon didn't love you, he didn't, he loved Georgie, but Spinelli, he loves me and he will take this as betrayal, god…" She looked away from Lulu folding her hands over her face crying.

Lulu walked towards her putting her hand on her shoulder, "You shouldn't predict what he's going to feel Maxie."

"He will Lulu, you know he will."

"Maybe not," Lulu took her hand off her shoulder as Maxie turned to her, "What do you mean?"

"Spinelli believes in two parents, mother and father bringing a child into the world and if you don't want to do it then maybe he won't either because he'd rather have you be just as willing as him," that was the simplest explanation she could think of, whether Spinelli would actually be on board with that was a whole other issue.

Lulu continued almost believing her theory could work, "Remember Maxie, he grew up with no parents, a grandmother who constantly made him feel unwanted, a mistake. I don't think he would ever want a child to go through the years of rejection he felt whether it's one or both parents rejecting them. Any feelings of not being wanted would break his heart, that's why I think you've got a chance here at him supporting what you want to do."

Maxie took a deep breath placing her had on her cheek, "I just really wish this could have happened at another time."

_Phew, _Lulu thought when Maxie said that for it meant that she really didn't know what she wanted to do, "Maxie there's plenty of time to talk about this, you were with Spinelli like three weeks ago?" Lulu had forgotten when exactly she said it was.

Maxie walked to her calendar just to know for sure, "This Thursday will be four weeks."

"See you've got at least another four to eight weeks before you have to decide, but the sooner you find out the better because if you decide you want to do what I did, you don't want to wait to the last few weeks of the first trimester is all I remembered Dr. Lee telling me, the sooner the better, so take a test."

"Not today," she slid her hand back on her hip.

"Why not?" Lulu wanted to pull her hair out.

"Because I don't want to have to decide the rest of my life today, okay?" Maxie snapped at her, "I want to remember this night with Spinelli as what it should be, an official first date as us together as a couple, not marking the beginning of the end for us."

Lulu sighed like it didn't have to mean that, "Alright, but don't wait too long, I understand why you don't want to do it today, but don't wait a week and then another because the longer you take the less time you have to discuss it with him."

Maxie sniffled before turning to the mirror in her room, she looked like a disaster, her hair was a mess, she smelled, her cute little outfit she had going on needed to be washed, what drama a little baby had caused.

"Maxie, it'll be okay, alright?" Lulu walked from behind looking at her in the mirror, "Why don't you take a shower? As soon as you get out I'll call them and by then they should almost be there and since your hair so short it shouldn't take long to dry and then we'll wash you're clothes and we'll go from there."

Maxie nodded completely surprised that she found herself trusting Lulu, this was nuts, but what else was she going to do?

"Alright Lulu, I'll do it your way." She turned to her where Lulu pulled her into a hug and the two shared an odd unexpected embrace, "It's going to be okay Maxie."

Maxie sniffled completely crying again, "You know, you're a good friend."

Lulu smiled, never in her days had she ever-expected Maxie to open up to her like that, "Thanks."

Maxie leaned out of the hug, "Yeah well that's probably the only time you're ever going to hear me say that so gloat all you want to today because Monday we're going back to hating each others guts."

"I can't wait," Lulu joked almost looking forward to it.

"Alright well I'm gonna take that shower," Maxie walked to the doorway where she turned to Lulu, "And don't think I haven't noticed your outfit from the brandy bunch years."

"Of course not!" Lulu annoyingly grinned at her, throwing her hands on her hips, "I wouldn't expect you to Maxie."

"I'm just saying Lulu, I mean do you always have to dress like your in the eighties? I know you're parents were a big hit in that decade, but really," Maxie insisted, shrugging her shoulders wanting some honest answer out of her.

Lulu glanced up at the ceiling as if god or someone was watching her, "Are you watching this Georgie? I practically befriended your sister and instead of her taking that shower she's standing here criticizing me."

"Oh Lulu get a grip!" Maxie frustratingly stormed into the bathroom knowing Monday wouldn't come soon enough.

--

I love the whole Maxie and Lulu dynamic in this chapter, just hilarious they are and of course Maxie asking about Mac having a lady friend, lol, if anyone has any suggestions on who his lady friend could be that would help, I'd totally write that into the next chapter.

Next Chapter: A car, a little girl talk, and a perfect first date.

Please review! They keep me writing!


	16. Four Musketeers

A/N: Hey well here's another update, I would say this is everything leading up to the date, so we're getting Johnny Spin bonding, more Lulu and Maxie bonding so it really emphasizes these four characters being a quad, sort of being important to each other's lives. This was not at all how I planned the chapter, I had a hard time starting off the date and just decided to write some pre stuff and then it suddenly came together. So some of this stuff is fluff, other stuff is foreshadow to the future. I would say its a pretty funny chapter. We're about to see a different side to Spin. Enjoy!

Chapter 16

Johnny parked the car, "Come on Spin!" He excitedly grinned seeing Spinelli's flustered face, he wasn't kidding when he said fifteen minutes.

Spinelli opened the car door slightly wobbling when stepped out, "Whoah!" Johnny playfully shouted grabbing Spinelli's arm.

Johnny started laughing having forgotten that Spinelli wasn't used to fast cars, "You'll get used to it, believe me…" He closed the passenger car door, "Dude when you see this car…" Johnny was speechless, "You're going to want to go so fast your adrenaline is going to be so pumped that it's like nothing you've ever felt before…"

Spinelli looked at him taking his word for it, "Is it better then sex?"

Johnny stopped in his tracks looking him in the eye, "Spinelli nothing is better then sex."

"Right," Spinelli felt like an idiot.

"But, it's awfully darn close," he giggled, "Come on let's get you hooked up."

Spinelli nodded looking away from Johnny to the entrance of the storage building where as soon as they entered the men saw Johnny and were aware that this was the man Claudia had told them to expect.

"I'll handle this Spinelli," Johnny smiled at him who seemed a little nervous, the guys didn't look entirely friendly, "Guys, Polly here?"

"Who's asking?" A grim Italian voice echoed the room even though the man had yet to walk from the back offices.

"Johnny Zacchara," John smiled knowing that was his uncle's voice.

A man with black hair and a full rounded face popped his head out the doorway, "John?"

"Polly!" Johnny smiled.

"John!" The fifty-year-old man quickly embraced his nephew, "It's been a long time." He remembered the last time he saw the young boy, it was right before his sister had been shot by that damn psychopath husband of hers, it still pained the tall, but slightly obese man that he had missed out on this kid's life just to protect himself.

"I know," Johnny never forgot him.

"Well," he leaned out of the hug, "Are you okay?"

Johnny smiled, "Yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Cause I heard you had been on the run with a girl," he winked slightly teasing him.

"Yeah," Johnny blushed while crossing his arms, "Yeah I was with a girl."

"Johnny!" He patted him on the back, "Taking interest in the opposite sex and with a feisty girl too, she's every bit like her father."

"You know Luke Spencer?"

"Do I know Luke Spencer," the man pointed to himself like of course he knew him, "He and I go way back, but I have feeling you're not here to listen to my stories with her old man."

"No I'm not," Johnny turned to Spinelli putting his hand on his shoulder, the good one, "Claudia left something here for my friend here."

"Aw you must be Damian Spinelli," Polly held out his hand, "You're the guy that freed my nephew."

Spinelli nervously shook his hand, "Yes that would be I the Jackal."

"The Jackal?" Polly raised his eyebrows slightly looking at Johnny and then back at Spinelli, "I like that."

Spinelli smiled, "If it freaks you out you can just call me Damian or Spinelli, it's whatever."

"Nah, I like the Jackal, you're a man of high esteem, the Jackal tells me you're a man I shouldn't mess with," he slightly joked and all three men laughed.

Polly let go of his hand, "Just give me a second to retrieve the information and then I'll lead you to Pandora's box," he slightly joked having no idea that perhaps he might be doing just that.

Spinelli turned away from him to Johnny, "This is so cool."

"You're telling me," Johnny slid his impatient hands into his pocket for Claudia had told him that Spinelli would be extremely surprised when he sat in either car, both full or secrets and mystery.

Polly returned with a small brown box, "Alright follow me." He walked them down a hall and then to an elevator where they went under ground.

Spinelli was slightly worried, he knew he had nothing to worry about for Johnny could be trusted, but this other man no matter how nice he came off as, he made him a little uneasy that's all.

"Where are we going?" Spinelli casually asked for when they pulled into the place there were storage rooms on eye level.

"Don't worry Mr. Jackal," Polly assured him there was nothing to be worried about where they were headed, "This is where we keep all our special customers things, we can't keep two Aston Martins up there, it wouldn't be safe."

Spinelli nodded, that made sense, "Sorry I didn't mean to insinuate…"

"I'm not offended," he smiled at him before the elevator opened and all three walked out.

"Okay, down here," they walked down a dim lit hall where Polly finally stopped in front of a keypad.

Polly opened the box with a knife cutting the tape off and then took out a small white envelope, "Here you go."

Spinelli took the envelope that revealed the five-digit code and then after mesmerizing the numbers he looked up at the keypad, his fingers hastily touching the keys, his tongue nervously licking his lips, his heart beating rapidly, "Okay…" He pushed the buttons and watched as a green light appeared.

Spinelli looked at Polly as to what to do next but he just motioned to the door handle, "Go ahead."

Spinelli put his hand on the doorknob where he looked at Polly as the door revealed to be unlocked.

"My work here is done, Spinelli if you decide to leave with one of the cars there's a button next to the light switch it'll reveal a tunnel that will bring you up to the surface."

"Ooo like Batman?" Spinelli instantly thought of Bruce Wayne, his secret layer which felt a lot like this.

"Yeah sure kid," Polly grinned before looking at Johnny, "Good seeing you, don't let it be another ten years before I see you again."

"No, I'll call you this week and we'll get lunch or something," Johnny smiled at his blast from the past.

Polly nodded, "Well you guys have fun." He walked away from them and down the hall to the elevator.

Johnny looked away from him to Spinelli who had by now walked into the garage, "Spinelli?" He closed the door behind him.

The room was dimly lit to perfectly show the sleekness and sharpness of each car, two cars of the latest Aston Martin models, "Have you ever seen something so beautiful Johnny?"

Spinelli looked back at him when he didn't immediately respond, "I mean besides the blonde one."

Johnny laughed as he walked towards him, "The Camero that I've been driving since I was sixteen."

Johnny watched Spinelli gaze back at the cars, "It was my birthday and as always I was bummed out," Johnny crossed his arms, "I had no friends to have a party with, my mother was dead, Claudia was gone and my father was sitting in his rose garden cursing as usual."

Johnny stopped right next to Spinelli, "I had no one, but Trevor."

Spinelli glanced up at him as he continued, "No matter how much I despise him, he was the only father I ever knew and on my birthday, out in the driveway was a yellow black striped Camero with a big red bow on it."

Johnny softly smiled, "Trevor said, 'A boy like you needs to have a little fun' and so he threw me the keys and gave me my license which I never took a test for or anything and he showed me how to drive."

"It was one of the rare moments I looked at Trevor as more than the guy that was running my father's business," Johnny glanced up at him, "Even after everything he's done to me I can't hate him."

Spinelli slowly nodded understanding him, he understood Johnny's pain, better then he thought.

Looking at the black Aston Martin, Spinelli slightly sighed, "You want to know why…" He walked away from Johnny to the car, "You want to know why I love Mr. Martin so much?"

Johnny nodded yes, he was amused by the way he called the car 'Mr. Martin'.

Spinelli casually walked around the car, "My grandfather had a car like this, older version, in perfect condition," Spinelli put his hands on his knees looking at the paint job, "Not a scratch on it."

Spinelli leaned away from the car putting his hands in his pocket as he walked around the tail of the car, "Every once in a while he'd take me for a ride, a few times out of the year on a holiday or just when he had it out checking the oil."

"We'd go to the movies, get an ice cream or sometimes he'd just drive me out to this lake that was about an hour away and we'd be there all night just staring up at the stars and talking," Spinelli traced his fingers along the back of the car that said _Aston Martin._

"I'd ask him if he was mad at granny and all he'd say was 'sometimes it's just nice to get away'," he chuckled slightly closing his eyes remembering the man who reminded him of Ben Parker, the sweet grandfather, the only guy that ever cared about him.

"Yup," Spinelli got up from ground shaking off the tender moments, "I had a lot of good memories with these cars," he walk around to the front of the car, "Some of the happiest times of my life…"

Johnny nodded with a smile knowing how he felt, "I know. I have a lot of miles on my car, seen a lot of places…shoot it's how I met Lulu."

Spinelli smiled brightly at him as he walked around to the front of the car, "You really love Lulu don't you?"

"Yeah," Johnny smiled nervously, "I do, she's changed my whole life and I can't imagine my life without he-er," he stuttered when his phone rang, "Speaking of Lulu…" He turned away from Spinelli and answered the phone, "Hey beautiful…"

Lulu smiled like a little school girl with a crush, "Hey…"

Johnny looked back at Spinelli motioning him to continue on exploring the car and he did just that. He unlocked the car not at all hesitating to open the door and took notice of the leather interior, it was so much nicer then his grandfather's car, but at the same time as he sat in the driver's seat, the smell was still the same, in a way it overwhelmed him.

"Lulu hun, why are you calling?" Johnny didn't mean to sound insincere, but they were in the middle of something.

"I have to have a reason to call you?" She questioned sarcastically.

"No," he slightly whined with an apology ringing in his voice.

Lulu slightly chuckled as she looked in the pantry of the kitchen, "I'm just calling to tell you that Maxie and I decided to eat something at the house here and that you and Spinelli should just get your own food."

"Oh," Johnny glanced at Spinelli slightly disappointed, "Well are you guys sure?" He asked for he and Spinelli had wanted to make this like a real date, food, flowers, candy, something along those lines.

"Yeah," she saw what she was looking for and grabbed the white plastic wrapper of crackers, "We're positive," Lulu silently choked, biting her tongue when she said 'positive'.

Johnny sighed, "Alright well then we'll you see you guys in an hour and a half."

"Okay, well got to go John, love you," Lulu hung up.

Johnny wearily moved the phone away from his ear at the way lulu abruptly hung up on him.

"What?" Spinelli opened the car door and looked up at him, "What's wrong?"

Johnny turned to him, "That was really weird," he looked at Spinelli who became a little concerned, "I mean not weird as in we need to worry about their safety or anything, but Lulu never just hangs up on me or calls me john, unless she's trying to seduce me."

Spinelli got out of the car, "Not like the Jackal desired to know that last bit, um did she mention Maximista?"

"No, well she just said that they were going to eat something at the house and that we should do our own thing," Johnny slid his phone back into his pocket looking a little more cheerful, "Which I guess is a good thing, gives us that extra time we needed."

"Yes it does," Spinelli winked, "Pop the garage door open John because I think I'm taking the black Mr. Martin for a drive."

Johnny smiled backing away to the light switch, "You don't want to drive Mr. Sunkist?"

Spinelli burst out laughing, loving the name he picked out for orange Aston Martin, "No…I want to impress Maximista with my manliness and Mr. Sunkist as cool as he looks right now…"

"I understand," Johnny pushed the button to see the garage door open, "And I think your going to impress a lot more people then just Maxie."

"Like Mr. Commissioner sir?" Spinelli hoped so, he hoped he could show up at the concert looking like he deserved to have Maxie on his arm.

"Spinelli," Johnny stopped right in front of him, "Look at that car," he motioned Spinelli to stare at the magnificence that made them speechless.

Johnny put his hand on Spinelli's good shoulder whispering into his ear, "He's going to take one look at it and begin to wonder when he can call you son."

Spinelli glanced up at him with eyes like 'really?'.

Johnny insisted, "Now, I need a hair cut because being on the run makes it impossible to go anyway and lucky for us there's a Barbershop right down the block," he could see Spinelli hadn't exactly expected that, "I mean if you don't mind..."

"No of course, actually the Jackal," Spinelli touched a strain of his hair, "Could use a trim."

"Fantastic," Johnny patted him on the back where he walked around to the passengers seat, "Now do you want me to drive?"

"Oh no," Spinelli opened the car door, "I can drive."

"Are you sure?" He remembered back to when they first arrived here.

"Yeah," Spinelli took his seat closing the door, he'll see.

Johnny looked uncertain, but gave him the benefit of the doubt sitting in the passenger seat, closing the car door and making extra sure his seat belt was on.

Spinelli put his seat belt on and then put the key in the ignition where he turned to Johnny, "I learned how to drive in an Aston Martin."

"Cool," Johnny slowly smiled wanting him to put his words where his mouth is.

Spinelli slowly put his foot on the gas pedal getting off to a rough start, "It's been a while."

Johnny nodded like no duh, but he eventually ate his words when Spinelli drove the car out of the garage and to the parking lot without crashing the car.

Spinelli parked the car right next to Johnny's Camero and then turned to him, "Told you the Jackal knew what he was doing."

"The Jackal was right," Johnny smiled, "Not bad Spinelli, not bad." He took off his seat belt and then reached for his pockets for his keys, "Okay Spin," he got out of the car where just as he closed the door he said, "Follow me."

"Sure thing John, Spinelli playfully pointed in the direction of the front of the car, "Just show me the way."

--

Maxie was sitting in her white cotton robe on a couch in the living room when she heard Lulu walking from the kitchen.

Lulu could see she was tired just by the way she plopped the cuff of her robe that was hanging over hand on her cheek. She was quiet as she approached her with a glass of water and a plate of saltines, "These helped me," she set them on the coffee table, "When I couldn't keep anything else down these worked like a charm."

Maxie slightly laughed with a smile, "Thanks."

"Your welcome," Lulu sweetly smiled before sitting next to her, "How do you feel?"

Maxie sighed shrugging her shoulders, "Okay…" But she frowned, she wasn't feeling okay, she was tired, nauseous….and pregnant.

Lulu frowned back obviously knowing she wasn't okay, how could she be? Not just physically, but emotionally. One night of passion was now going to decide the rest of her life. It was going to decide whether she could stay out at a part all night or be feeding a baby in the middle of the night. It was going to decide whether she and Spinelli were friends, boyfriend/girlfriend or husband and wife. Whenever Maxie decided to get confirmation that she was pregnant whether it was from a pregnancy test or her doctor that revelation was going to change her life forever whether she kept the baby or not.

"I called Johnny, he said they pick us up in an hour and a half so we have plenty of time to get you ready so just rest up I guess," she motioned the water and crackers.

"Did Johnny suspect anything?" She looked up at Lulu who nodded no, "I think he was little bummed out cause this is sort of technically our first date and."

Maxie looked at her confused, "Lulu…" She was going to tell her that didn't make any sense and Lulu prevented her from explaining further.

"I know it sounds silly right? Like that even matters because we've surived our crazy families and the mob and the police, but Johnny and I have never had like an actual date…"

"Never?" Maxie wanted to laugh, it just sounded unbelievable.

"Never, we planned a date," she nodded like that didn't go well, "But Johnny was kidnapped by Sonny because he thought for some bizarre reason that Johnny would want to kill Kate."

"Really?" Maxie looked at her surprised that Sonny would go that far, but then again she remembered how horrible he was to Spinelli, "God Sonny is a monster."

"He can be," Sonny was a friend of hers, she couldn't say anything against him really since her father and him go way back.

"He can be?" Maxie looked at her wondering how she could say that, "Lulu you have to be kidding me."

"I'm not saying what Sonny does is right, I hate that he blames Johnny for every little thing that goes wrong in his life…"

"And how he beat up Spinelli," Maxie added and Lulu just looked at her with a 'what did you just say' face.

"You don't know?" Maxie could see she obviously didn't, "Sonny came to see Kate and Spin was being all sweet talking about Michael, sending his apologies to what happened to him and Sonny just flipped and shoved him into a pole, he hit his poor head."

"Oh," Lulu wondered why she never heard about this, "And Sonny of course didn't apologize right?" Lulu asked becoming annoyed by the news.

"Nope and Kate just worships the ground he walks on," Maxie sighed with frustration, "That woman is my role model, but sometimes I just don't understand what she sees in Sonny, I mean he's attractive for his age, but his heart is cold."

Lulu pretended to go along with what she was saying even though she disagreed that Sonny had a cold heart, "Well maybe Kate will see Sonny for who he really is."

"And then move her offices to Manhattan? No," she might hate them together, but she needs her job, "That's the last thing I need, for her to move the magazine to New York City and I have to transfer with her, Spinelli and I would never work out then."

"Why would you guys not work out?" Did she still not know how dedicated he is to her?

"Um because Spinelli loves working for Jason," duh, "And I would never ask him to quit his job or leave it to come with me, he loves it too much."

Lulu looked at her with uncertainty, "I think it's easier said then done Maxie, do you want to grow up to be just like Kate Howard who seemed to give up everything for her career?"

"Of course not Lulu, but you just lectured me upstairs how devoted he is to Jason, if I asked him to leave the mob because I was leaving or…" She pulled herself up on the couch thinking of a better example, "Or because I thought it was too dangerous."

"Maxie I think he would leave if he thought your life was in danger," she seriously looked at her.

"I'd like to think he would," she nodded with uncertainty, "I'd like to think that if I told him that I never wanted to be caught in a shootout again or him for that matter, I'd like to think he'd leave for me and the ba-by," she cringed.

Lulu slightly smirked, how could Maxie not want to keep a baby? "I think he would Maxie, what happened to Michael was enough proof to show that no one is safe in the mob."

For some reason it bothered Maxie the way Lulu said those words so freely, not afraid of the danger, "And that doesn't bother you Lulu?"

"Does it bother you?" Lulu couldn't give her an answer without knowing hers.

"It didn't used to!" Maxie said in annoyance slightly looking away from Lulu to grab the glass of water.

"But…" Lulu could feel it coming or maybe that was just her telling herself that she sometimes couldn't handle the danger.

"But…" She took a sip of the water, "It's just that I've been in enough dangerous situations that I know how to handle myself, even when I was scared I some how knew how to pull myself together, maybe it's because of Mac or my parents, their jobs that require them to brave all the time, but I've just never been afraid of danger."

"Until Spinelli was shot," Lulu guessed with a deep sigh.

Maxie set the glass back on the counter before weakly crossing her arms, "It seems silly right? Because Jessie was shot, I've seen a man be shot in front of me, a man I loved, but with Jessie it was over like that," she snapped her fingers, "Jessie was gone, unconscious, I never spoke to him again, but with Spinelli," she paused for the events were completely and utterly different.

"When he got shot in the shoulder, I knew it was bad, I mean I wanted to panic and you know what he did?" She saw Lulu's sincere 'what' face obviously caught up in the story, "I had blood on my fingers and he put each one in his mouth and made it go away…" She faintly said closing her eyes remembering the soft smile on his face like everything would be okay.

"And I'll never forget what he said after that," she felt a cold eeriness in her ear, "_Promise me you'll love again._"

"He kissed my neck and then brushed his cheek up against mine," she touched her cheek, "And then I watched him fall apart in front of me," she looked up at Lulu as if no one should ever have to see the person they love suffer as much as he did.

"I…I never had that with Jessie, I never had any of it and as much as I wanted to have that final goodbye with him, all the nights I cried myself to sleep wishing I could have a few last words with him," she took a deep breath, a heavy sigh wiping the tears from her eyes, "I'm glad I didn't because now that I have had that experience…I don't ever want to feel what I felt ever again…" It sent chills down her back.

Lulu instinctively touched her arm becoming sympathetic, but before she could say something to comfort her, Maxie interrupted as she wiped the tears from her cheeks, "I just…I just don't know anymore Lulu…"

Lulu slowly nodded, "If it makes you feel any better, I don't know either."

Lulu could see Maxie wanted her to explain her doubts, "Johnny always told me he never wanted to run the business, he had no intention of wanting that life and when he started having to take on that responsibility because of his father, he told me we couldn't be together because it was too dangerous."

"But you and Johnny are together?" Maxie wasn't quite sure what she was saying.

"We wouldn't have been had Anthony not threatened my father with money laundering charges or threatened to have Lucky killed on the job," she hated saying it for it made her feel like those things could still happen.

Maxie looked at her surprised, but with worry, "He could do that?"

"Apparently," she looked at Maxie just as surprised, "The deal was I get back together with Johnny and in return Anthony didn't touch my family, but Johnny saw right through it, he knew what I was doing and so we decided to play his father until we had evidence to put him away for good, Johnny promised me that once his father was out of the way, he'd leave the business."

She looked up at Maxie somewhat somber, "And now I wonder if he'll keep his word because he has no reason to stay in that kind of life."

Lulu slightly bowed her head to her, "So I know what you're feeling, imagine that," she sarcastically said, "You and I have a lot more in common then I think you and I thought."

Maxie playfully glared at her, "Yeah, it's kind of annoying."

Lulu burst out laughing, "Yeah it kind of is," but it was obvious that perhaps they weren't as bothered by it was they were before.

Maxie's laugh turned into a chuckling sigh, "Man Lulu we have got to stop having these deep conversations."

"I know or else we will become friends," she rolled her eyes where they wandered to the plate of crackers.

She picked up the plate of crackers where as she held the plate between one she took a cracker, biting off the corner and then looking up at Maxie, "You should have something on your stomach."

Maxie nodded hesitantly moving her hand to the plate where Lulu smirked at her, "They aren't gonna bite Maxie, they're just gonna keep you from barfing your guts out."

"Fine," Maxie sighed taking one in her hand and then biting into it, where she softly smiled at how good it tasted, the one thing that wasn't making her feel sick and she wasn't just referring to the baby.

--

After getting a haircut Jonny and Spinelli decided to swing by the mall and play dress up.

"What do you think about this Spinelli?" Johnny turned to him in a dark red dress shirt and black pants.

"Um," Spinelli looked up from the leather Jacket that was nearby the dressing rooms.

"Spinelli if you want a leather jacket you don't need Jason's permission to buy one," Johnny joked for Spinelli had been eyeing the black Jacket since they got there, "For goodness sakes you have the money, just buy it."

"I…I don't know," Spinelli looked up at him blushing in doubt, "Oh that looks good."

"Yeah I don't know," Johnny turned to the mirror putting the jacket onto his suit, "See now I look like a jerk."

"Excuse me?" Spinelli questioned not understanding how the word 'Jerk' could be related to clothing.

Johnny annoyingly took off the jacket to the suit, "I can't look too formal, if I look better then her she'll be pissed and be like "Johnny why didn't you tell me to dress up"."

A saleswoman walked by, "I can fix that problem."

Johnny and Spinelli turned to the brunette in her young twenties, "Oh?" Johnny asked.

She was wearing a white dress shirt with a black skirt, looking professional, "What you need…" She walked towards Johnny putting her hands on his arms pretending like she needed to get a good look at him to determine what he needed to pull of the look he was going for.

"A leather jacket," she smiled up close at Johnny, "Boy…" She snapped her fingers to Spinelli, "Hand me that jacket."

Spinelli nervously grabbed it with annoyance and tossed it to her, "Let's try this, it keeps you looking casual, but not too casual like you don't care, like him," she turned to Spinelli, "If I was going out on a date with you, I would say you should probably step it up a knotch."

Johnny could see Spinelli felt a little uncomfortable having the woman somewhat depict him, "But we're going to a concert, his girl friend and mine."

The sales lady looked back at Johnny, "Woah, you're going to a concert dressed like that and…" She looked back at Spinelli, "Your not?"

She looked at them like that was a big 'no', "No that won't do."

Johnny looked at this lady in annoyance, she was being extra nosey, "Thank you but we can take it from here…" Johnny looked at her nametag, "Stacy," and then smiled to get lost.

The lady backed away from him thinking he was going to be a nice guy, "I'm just saying that if I was his girl friend," she looked at Spinelli, "I would be kind of pissed." She walked off where Johnny glanced up at Spinelli who now looked unsure of himself, "Spinelli you look fine."

"Yeah 'just fine'," he said with frustration, "I don't want to look 'just fine' this is our first date, I can't have you looking better then the Jackal."

"Okay," Johnny looked at him wondering what he wanted to do, "How does the Jackal want to transform himself," Johnny slightly laughed at the way he was talking Spinelli's language.

"Um well," he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to wear, "Um…" He looked around the story hoping to see one of those manly mannequins in some outfit that he could steel.

Johnny wandered his eyes to the ladies at the cash register realizing they were going to need some help, "Ladies do you get paid on commission?"

They playfully looked over at him nodding yes until Stacy walked back into the area, "So you do need my help."

Johnny nodded, "Not me, him." He looked at Spinelli who awkwardly smiled, "Hello."

"Oh jeez," the lady rolled her eyes, "Ladies!" She motioned for them to scurry over and then looked at Spinelli, "What's your name?"

"Damian Spinelli," Johnny answered for him, "Now can you guys get him fixed up in about twenty or so minutes, cause we have other errands to run."

"Did you say Damian Spinelli?" Stacy looked back at Johnny who nodded.

"Oh my god," Stacy looked at Spinelli, "You're the guy that saved Maxie!"

Spinelli cringed rolling his eyes where Johnny chuckled it was obvious that Spinelli hated being pointed out like a celebrity, "Girls this is the guy that saved Maxie!"

The girls shouted in excitement where Stacy walked up to him, "Are you going out with Maxie tonight?"

Spinelli nodded, "Yes."

Stacy jumped, "Well we're going to take care of you Mr. Spinelli, Maxie used to work with us here before she worked at the boutique at the Metro Court, we take care of our girls and since you took care of ours…you're in good hands."

Spinelli glared at Johnny as she took him to a chair and set him down, "Stop laughing."

Johnny giggled, "Spinelli I think you're in good hands, listen I'm going to go right across from the store, into Tiffany's, meet me in there when you're done."

"No," Spinelli looked at him not to leave him with five chicks that wanted to gush over him, "Please, if you're any kind of friend to Lulu you will…"

"Leave you to get…pampered," he could barely contain his laughter, "Could one of you ladies register me," Johnny asked remembering he had store clothes on.

"Of course!" A lady perked where as soon as Johnny walked from the dressing room with his other clothes and walked off with her, Stacy walked over, "Stand up Damian."

Spinelli looked at them wanting to be polite as he stood up to her command, "I just…"

"Take your shirt off," Stacy demanded, "We have to measure your chest."

Spinelli looked at them wondering if the thought he was an idiot or something, he didn't need to strip in order for them to get a few measurements, "Stacy…"

"Damian!" Stacy looked at him insisting he better do it, "The sooner you work with us, the sooner we'll be done and you can join your friend."

Spinelli groaned where he slowly motioned to take his grey shirt off, his face showing tension with his right shoulder as he pulled it off.

"Alright," Stacy pretended not to notice his pain, "So let's see here," she took the measuring tape and pressed it against his chest where she saw his scar over his heart, "That from when you got shot?"

He uncomfortably looked down at her, "Yes."

"Hmm," she looked away from him to the three ladies standing next to them, "Get this man a midnight navy blue dress shirt, size 34 inches," she smiled up at Spinelli, "Lean mean fighting machine you are Mr. Spinelli."

Spinelli politely smiled trying not to be bothered by the fact that she just touched his chest.

"Steph, also get him a white t-shirt to go under this," she looked up at Spinelli, "Do you own any formal clothes Mr. Spinelli?"

"Not really," he nervously smiled.

"A good looking guy like you doesn't have anything to show himself off in?" She flirted once more, "Well we're going to fix that, Jessica?" She turned to the other girl, "Jessica, get him dress shirts in dark red, white, julep, light blue and black."

"How much is this going to cost the jackal Stacy?" He looked at her wondering what right she had practically ordering her staff to get clothes he may or may not want.

"Oh Damian don't be a poop," Stacy looked up at him, "Maxie likes her men to dress with taste."

Spinelli really hated how this woman kept depicting Maxie to be shallow, she and Maxie obviously weren't friends, "You know you're in luck that I happen to need some clothes other wise I'd walk out of the store right now."

Stacy glared at him moving the tape measure to his waist, "I'm like this with everyone Damian," she looked down at his waist, "Mary, get him 30 in pants in black, white, and a very light tan and then in shorts get him the same in colors."

She looked back up at Damian, "Don't look so uptight Mr. Spinelli."

Spinelli rolled his eyes before looking down at his wrist when he remembered he didn't own a watch, "Damn," he quietly cursed.

"Oh would Mr. Spinelli like a watch?"

"Do you happen to sell any of those too?" He looked at her with annoyance especially after she said yes.

"Stacy!" Stephanie rushed over with coat hangers in her hands, "Here is the one you wanted." She handed her the Midnight blue navy shirt and then hung up the rest of the coat hangers on a rack.

"Oh Stacy, here's the white shirt," she handed her a Hanes white shirt.

"Aw yes, great," Stacy tossed it to Spinelli, "Put this on."

While he put it on she turned back to Stephanie, "Also, get Mr. Spinelli the best Rolex watch we sell."

Stephanie smiled like of course and the sprinted off to get it knowing time was literally money.

Spinelli pulled the white shirt down before crossing his arms already showing how tired he was of this, "And Stacy since you have no problem spending my money, I would hope my purchases today include that of a leather jacket."

"Of course!" Stacy smiled, "Mary!" She looked around wondering where all her assistants were when finally Jessica returned with the pants, "Great Jess, now go get Mr. Spinelli a Joseph & Feiss Leather Bomber Black and Brown Jacket."

"Yes Ma'am and I got belts here for Mr. Spinelli," Jessica showed her and Stacy smiled in approval, "Fantastic."

"You're going to need shoes too," Stacy just realized and Spinelli silently cursed, he only liked Maxie gushing over him and this was really starting to irritate him.

"Shoe size?" Stacy asked as she took the Midnight Navy Blue dress shirt and light tan paints and handed it to him, "Shoe size Mr. Spinelli?"

He took the clothes from her, "Eleven."

Stacy slowly nodded, you know what they say about guys with big feet, big…. "Alright Mr. Spinelli go put these on and I'll have your Jacket waiting for you."

"Good," that was the only thing Spinelli truly wanted from the store.

Stacy watched as he turned into the dressing room and then turned to all her assistants that were running back with things she wanted, "All right, Mary, go get me size 11 hush puppy leather strategy lace up dress shoes pronto and bring socks too, Steph…" She turned to her, "Aviator sunglasses, style Cole."

As her assistants ran off Stacy turned to the direction of the dressing room where she plopped down on the sofa waiting for her assistants to return and for her creation to walk out looking like the hottest thing on the market.

Spinelli looked at himself in the mirror, slightly excited by the way he looked because it was new and fresh, but at the same time he was afraid he'd look like a complete idiot, this wasn't exactly him, the Jackal, Spinelli, it was Damian, the suave guy from the Haunted Star only no Aussie accent.

Stacy relaxed herself on the couch as the three assistants stood behind the couch, everything they had fetched was now perfectly set out on the couch, the watch, the glasses, the jackets, and the shoes.

"Come on Damian," Stacy slightly shouted knowing the somewhat shy fellow was probably hiding out somewhere, "The sooner you come out…"

"Alright, alright," Spinelli sighed as he casually walked out with his hands on his pockets.

He stopped twirling as he saw them staring back at him utterly speechless, he was afraid they going to laugh at his attempt to be a real man, but instead it was just the opposite.

"She is so lucky," Stephanie whined out.

"Yeah," Mary weakly said almost drooling over him.

Stacy evilly smiled wandering her eyes away from looking over her shoulder to the black leather jacket, "I believe this is the final touch." She motioned him to walk forward where she grabbed the jacket from the box and fed it through his arms.

He pulled the jacket on him and then turned to mirror where a small smile crept up on his face, _I look cool!_

"So ladies," he twirled around where the three assistants blushed.

Stacy crossed he legs as her arms spread out on the couch, "That's why they call me eye of the tiger."

Spinelli nervously smiled, "I look okay?"

"Okay?" Stacy questioned like how he could think that, "Damian darling," she turned to the sunglasses and got up from the couch, "Damian I think," she stopped right in front of him, "You're my greatest creation." She slid the glasses on his eyes, "Ladies," she moved away from him, "Now tell me that isn't the hottest thing you've ever seen."

Stacy watched as Mary seemed to want to faint, "Girls Mary…" Stephanie and Jessica turned to her, "Oh…" They caught her.

Stacy grinned at her silly assistants that were losing their focus, "Girls why don't you ring up everything while I finish here with Mr. Spinelli," she shooed them away and then looked up at him becoming slightly nervous around his presence too.

Spinelli raised the sunglass's up from his eyes letting them rest on his hair when Stacy turned to him, "Oh no Damian…" She took the sunglasses off his head, "You'll ruin them that way," she wandered her hands to the inside of his jacket, "You want to take care of them," she folded them and placed them in the secret pocket, "Keep them safe."

She gazed up at him to see his hair in his eyes, but just as she motioned to push it away he gently grabbed her wrist, "I'm not on the market." He let go of her wrist and walked back into his dressing room the grab his things.

Stacy pouted, but never the less let it go, he obviously wasn't interested and she didn't need another fatal attraction to add to her history, "Ladies let's get these things packed for Mr. Spinelli."

Spinelli put his wallet and keys in his pockets and then folded his clothes where he walked out to be greeted by Stephanie with a bag, "I'll put those in here and Mr. Spinelli how do you plan on paying for this?"

"Credit," he removed his wallet and grabbed his Visa card and handed to her when he looked at her cautiously, "I don't want Stacy anywhere near this card or my I.D." He handed her his driver's license knowing she would need it as well, "Clear?" He looked at her knowing Stephanie knew exactly what he meant, "Yes sir, you're not the first one to ask."

He smiled knowing that was obvious, "I bet, thank you." He grinned at her before walking to the couch and putting his watch and new shoes on.

"Mr. Spinelli," Jessica walked over with Mary setting down four big bags in front of him, "This is everything."

"Are you sure?" He joked and they laughed, "Yes it is."

"Damian," Stephanie walked over to him, "Here is your card, your license, your receipt…which you might want to look at after tonight."

He playfully smiled, "I might just do that," he reached for his wallet and put the credit card, license and receipt in it, "And did you take care…"

"Yes," Stephanie assured him.

"Good, um," he slid his wallet back into his pocket, "Now what about commission? I think it was half an hour?" He reached into his other pocket revealing too many one hundreds, "Is two hundred a piece okay?"

They nodded like it was more than enough, "Okay and give this to Stacy." He handed it to Stephanie before sliding money back into his pocket, "Well thank you all for your help."

"Tell Maxie we say hi!" Stephanie excitedly smiled hoping he.

"You bet," he grinned before bending down to grab his bags that were pretty heavy, "Shoot what did you guys buy me?"

"Just the essentials Damian," Stacy walked back into the area, "Just what a man really needs to impress the woman he loves."

"Right," he politely smiled, "Well I best be on my way, thanks again ladies," he nodded making his way out the store and into Tiffany's where he saw Johnny busily talking to a man so he decided to make his presence known once Johnny wasn't so occupied.

"Can I help you?" A man from behind the counter asked believing that Spinelli was looking at something in the glass.

"Oh no thanks, the Jackal isn't interested quite yet in buying a ring for his Maximista," Spinelli nervously smiled.

The old man somewhat ignored Spinelli's Jackal and Maximista words, "No one says you have to buy a ring, we sell necklaces, bracelets all kinds of things."

Spinelli politely smiled no thanks where the old man nodded, "Well let me know."

Spinelli nodded and then casually looked down not at all expecting the diamonds of a particular heart pendent to catch his eye, "Actually sir…" Spinelli quickly motioned to him.

The old man smiled walking back over to him, "Yes?"

"That," Spinelli pointed, "How much does that cost?"

"Oh the heart," he glanced up at Spinelli with an excited smile, "That is priceless to a girl's heart."

"How much," Spinelli looked at him not entirely enjoying a propaganda like "Diamonds are a girls best friend" being thrown at him.

"Well let me see here," the man removed it from the glass and set it on the counter, "Fourteen-Hundred."

Spinelli was a little taken back but never the less wanted it, "I'll take it."

The old man chirped up, "Are you sure? It's quite expensive."

"The Jackal is sure," Spinelli nodded a confident yes.

"Well," The old man slightly laughed at the way this young man called himself 'the Jackal', "Before you buy it let me tell you the specifications."

Spinelli nodded like that made sense and listened as the man excitedly told him what this treasure Spinelli has his eyes on was to be exact, "It's .9 carats held in platinum, the best metal of choice when it comes to wanting to display a diamond's brilliance."

Spinelli nodded looking down at the necklace before something else in the glass jewelry case caught his eye, "Um may I see that?"

The old men set the more expensive necklace aside and reached in the case for another necklace, "This one?"

"Yes," Spinelli nodded unable to take his eyes off the small red crystal heart, "How much is that?"

The old man was slightly annoyed in his interest in the less expensive item, "A hundred and fifty."

Spinelli sweetly eyed it immediately thinking of Maxie, "And the heart is…."

"Is red crystal, sterling silver," he sighed with disappointment thinking he was going to rank in a big customer.

Spinelli nodded having decided the moment he saw it was going to buy it, "I'll take it, I'll take both and is cash okay?" Spinelli reached into his pocket and took out the wad of cash.

"Um yes! Quite fine sir," the man chirped with excitement taking the tags off, "I'll be right back, you want insurance on these items?"

"Yes," Spinelli nodded, "Just in case."

"Of course, you can never be too careful," he joked before walking away to process the purchase.

"Spinelli?" Johnny called his name unsure if that was him.

Spinelli looked away from the necklaces to see Johnny's shocked face, "Dude you look like you just stepped out of some fashion magazine."

"Well that's what happens when you leave me with a bunch of women, look at all the bags I have," Spinelli glanced down at them.

Johnny laughed as he walked closer to him, "And you got the jacket I see."

"Yes, the one thing the jackal did want," he laughed as Johnny stopped right in front of him, "So what did you buy fair Lulu?"

"Eh," he removed a red box from his pocket.

Spinelli eyed it with a playful grin, "Don't you think it's a little fast for a first date?"

Johnny laughed playing along, "It might be…"

"Sir?" The old man spoke, "Sorry to interrupt, but…"

Spinelli turned to him as he placed the receipt on the counter circling the total, "The necklaces themselves totaled one thousand five hundred and fifty, the insurance coverage was five hundred, plus three hundred for tax and you get a total of Two thousand three hundred and fifty dollars."

Spinelli checked over the receipt and sure enough the man was right, so Spinelli counted up twenty four hundred and dollars and handed it to him a deep sigh at how much was being spent, "Here you go."

The man chuckled taking the money from him, "She must be a very special lady to be spending that much money on."

"Oh she is," Spinelli insisted, "Very Special."

The old man gave him a final receipt with fifty dollars change and then looked down at the necklaces, "I'll be right back with boxes for those."

Spinelli nodded and then turned to Johnny, "So are you going to give the Jackal a sneak peak at the ring?"

Johnny rolled his eyes, "Sure."

It was a simple, yet impressive four-carrot diamond ring with diamonds built into the band to add extra elegance to it. Sure a girl like Lulu probably wouldn't care how big the stone was it was more about the event in itself that she cared about, but Johnny couldn't help himself.

"I'm gonna tell her she doesn't have to give me an immediate answer, I mean we're young and I'd like a long engagement, but I just want to know that he's mine, you know Spinelli?" Johnny looked up from the ring, "I want her…as silly as it sounds…I want her to be my one and only."

Spinelli softly smiled, "That's not silly Johnny, it's actually really sweet and the Jackal thinks Lulu is going to be very happy with you."

"I hope so," Johnny was full of excitement, "I mean I hope she says yes," Johnny smiled unsure of himself, "I don't know what I would do if she said no." Johnny closed the box sliding it into his pocket.

Spinelli rolled his eyes, "She won't say no," Spinelli paused seeing the old man walk from the back with two fancy necklace boxes that looked as if they opened up like a ring box, "Johnny she loves you." Spinelli insisted before turning to the old man who smiled, "Before we get to the boxes, the store would like to present you with this money clip valued at one hundred dollars as our token of appreciation that you chose Tiffany's."

Spinelli was quite surprised at the sterling silver money clip he handed him, "Thanks."

"No problem, we like to thank our customers for spending grand amounts of money in the store," the old man was thankful that he put it to quick use for it wasn't entirely smart to just whip out wads of cash like that.

Spinelli pit the clip of money into his wallet while the man asked, "I presume you want the red heart in the red box and the diamond heart in the blue box?"

"Yes," Spinelli looked down at each necklace that he was putting away where Johnny looked over his shoulder and saw each necklace completely different almost having two different meanings, "Which one are you going to give her?"

Spinelli looked up at the old man who was getting ready to put the boxes in the bag, "I'll keep the red box with me."

"Of course," he slid it forward where Spinelli turned to Johnny, placing the red box in the other inside pocket of his jacket, "Does that answer your question?" Spinelli looked back at the old man who handed him the bag, "Thanks…" He smiled before looking around to make sure he had everything from his purchase and then turned to Johnny as he picked up his bags from Men's Warehouse, "I mean it's only the first date."

Johnny laughed, "Yeah, no need to rush with diamonds and such."

"Right," Spinelli winked before turning to the old man once more, "Thank you for your help."

"No thank you," the old man smiled with a charm of Michael Caine waving goodbye as they left.

"Now what?" Johnny looked at him feeling like they had done everything they needed to do.

Spinelli looked down at his new watch, how useful it was, "Um I guess it's time to pick them up?"

Johnny nodded, "Sounds about right to me."

--

Maxie walked down the hall from the bathroom when Lulu walked out of her room slightly making Maxie jump out of her skin, "Sorry, your clothes finished drying so I just thought I'd put them on your bed, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No don't worry about it Lulu, thanks," Maxie nodded.

"Okay, oh and well I hate to be the burden of bad news, but Johnny just called and said they'll be home in half an hour and that was ten minutes ago so if they show up I can try to stall them…"

"It's okay I'll be ready by then," Maxie assured her for she didn't want to bring anymore attention to herself.

"Alright well let me know if you need anything," Lulu smiled before leaving her to her room.

Maxie walked into her room where she closed door and leaned against it, "Please let everything be okay tonight." She wished with her eyes closed desperately not wanting to ruin tonight by getting sick or feeling light headed or showing any signs that she wasn't herself, she didn't want to ruin what she knew Spinelli had been looking forward to for a long time now.

Walking from the door she walked to her dresser grabbing a regular white Victoria Secret bra and then pulling her red cotton Old Navy tank top over it. She slid her jeans over her white underwear with hearts on it and then got up from the bed and made her way to the dresser where she began brushing her hair and fixing it into a pony. Looking back on it now she was actually glad that she was forced to take a shower because now her hair looked better then ever and she actually didn't look that tired, the shower had rejuvenated her to the point that she looked like her normal self and _thank god for that_, she thought.

She put the same earrings in and applied the same golden bronze like eye shadow and then topped it off with a little lip gloss that had a tint of oranges to it, she knew that would drive him wild and she couldn't wait to see his reaction to it.

She looked at herself in the mirror, "No one has to know that just over an hour ago you were barfing your brains out, so keep it together, you look great, you feel great, you will be great," those where her words of wisdom.

Walking to her closet she decided instead of wearing her red sandals that would probably have her feet hurting within the hour she decided to wear her new red suede flats that Kate had given her after a photo shoot. She sat on her bed eyeing the Italian shoe that was worth four hundred and fifty dollars and yet she paid nothing for it. That was probably the best thing about working for Kate; getting clothes, shoes, purses, whatever she wanted for free. It was a great perk that she realized as she rubbed her fingers along the delicate strap that detailed at the vamp that she didn't want to give that up. She didn't want to give up the giddy feeling she felt right now as her hands moved to the interior leather lining and sole of the shoe. She didn't want the light in her eyes that came across her face as she read the designer of a shoe that she had before it was even in stores, she didn't want that to go away either. She didn't want that feeling in her heart reserved for the love of fashion to leave her because at the end of the day no matter what had happened between her and the people she loved or hated, a dress was a dress, a shoe was a shoe and a purse was a purse. These inatimate objects were never going to complicate her life, no, they were only going to make her happy and how could she give up the one thing that was certain to make her happy? She couldn't.

Lulu looked in the window seeing Johnny's car pull up, "Maxie, they're here." She turned away from the window before she could notice Spinelli wasn't in Johnny's car, "Max..." She stopped calling her name when Maxie appeared to have heard her the first time as she stood at the top of the stairs with her purse, ready to have a rockin' time.

Johnny looked on the dashboard for his aviator sunglasses and then grabbed them as he stepped out of the car to see Spinelli pull up right behind him. Sliding his sunglasses on he grinned like he was Mr. Hot Stuff and waited for Spinelli to get out of the car so he could teach him how to act with a sweet car.

Spinelli took the keys out of the ignition and saw Johnny leaning on the back of his Camero with his arms crossed, obviously waiting for him. Spinelli slowly got out of the car feeling nervous with butterflies in his stomach hoping that all of this, his new look, his new car, that all of it wouldn't be too much for his Maxie, that she wouldn't take one look at him and laugh or think the man she had grown to love wasn't still there underneath the six hundred and fifty leather jacket he had on.

"Spinelli!" Johnny shouted his name in excitement, "You're starting to get good at driving that thing and you've only had it for an hour."

Spinelli reached for his sunglasses realizing now was a time to wear them even though the sun was setting, "Well I think you need to give the Jackal more credit."

"Perhaps I do," Johnny sighed as Spinelli stopped in front of him, "perhaps I do."

"So should we go in?" Spinelli asked not really sure what they were planning, it seemed like Johnny was calling the shots.

"Nah," Johnny walked between the cars, "If we want to make an impression Spinelli," Johnny looked back at him as he made his way to middle of the car, "We got to let them come to us."

Spinelli walked between the cars, but stood there kind of lost wondering what to do when Johnny said to him, "Spinelli lean against your car."

"And do what?" Spinelli asked as he backed away to the middle of his car just as Johnny was doing.

Johnny laughed, "Act like you own it and in this case you do."

Johnny spread his hands on the car, "So be cool man, be cool."

_Okay, be cool! Yeah right! _It's not like he's ever done this before, "The Jackal feels like an idiot wearing sunglasses when it's not even sunny out."

Johnny nodded like he no kidding was going to have to teach him this stuff, "Spinelli," he looked at him, "The key is to show her that you're not playing a part, that you can be a man with taste in clothes and a hot car."

Spinelli agreed that was his goal to show his Maximista that he was serious, but at the same time he knew she would definitely laugh if she saw him wearing sunglasses when a sun was setting, "Well the Jackal appreciates your advice, but he's decided it's time to leave his wing man."

"Suit yourself Maverick," Johnny looked away joking as Spinelli took his sunglasses off saying in return, "Fine Iceman," Spinelli grinned knowing he looked more like himself, if that was even possible as he put the sunglasses back inside his jacket pocket.

Johnny humorously laughed, he liked the name iceman, it sounded so cool, totally feeding the chip he had on his shoulder right now, "I like that, you can call me that if you ever forget to call me Johnny."

"Nah," Spinelli looked at himself in the mirror to straighten the bangs that he told the barber to specifically not trim for he liked it when Maxie felt the need to push them out of his eyes, "The Jackal thinks Mother Goose fits better." Spinelli glanced up at him to see his reaction, which wasn't pleasant.

"You can't call me that…If you call me that then I'm gonna call you," he tried to think of a call sign that he would be agitated by, "Wolfman."

Spinelli glared at him, "Iceman it is, but are you sure you don't like Viper? Or cougar?"

"Heck no," Johnny nodded crossing his arms, "Cougar is only in the first five minutes of the movie and Viper is cool but the really old actor, but Iceman is cool Spin, plus," he looked over at Spinelli, "Maverick and Iceman become best buds in the end so it's like a foreshadow to us, you and I."

Spinelli laughed sliding his hands into his jacket, "Whatever you say." He glanced at the door wondering what was taking them so long as did Johnny.

"I'll call them," Johnny whipped out his phone and called Lulu.

They were sitting on the couch having a little talk expecting the guys to walk in, "Like I said if you start to feel another round of morning sickness…"

"Lulu," Maxie glared at her to not use that term.

"Sorry," Lulu cringed, "My point is if you need me to make an excuse for you to leave, you just looked at me and we'll got to the bathroom or pretend Kate has an emergency and we have to leave."

"That's a good one," Maxie had to admit that was actually really smart of her.

"Right so," she paused when her phone rang, "It's Johnny," she answered, "Hey are you guys coming in or what?"

Lulu nodded, "Alright sorry John I didn't know we were suddenly in a rush now!" She hung up, "They want us to join them outside." Lulu threw her phone back into her purse slightly annoyed by Johnny's egotistical behavior, "He is so high off himself right now."

"He's just happy Lulu that he doesn't have to be running away from trigger happy cops," Maxie laughed getting off the couch with Lulu.

"I hope that's it," Lulu laughed as she walked to the front door, "Otherwise I'm not staying for two has been bands."

Maxie giggled, "I know I'm only going because Spinelli really loves that Saint guy and Patrick and Robin are going to be there."

Stopping at the front door Lulu turned to Maxie who was reaching in her purse for her keys, "The important thing Maxie is that if you want to keep this a secret, you're going to need my help until you figure out what you're going to do."

Maxie nodded with the keys in her hands, "Thanks Lulu, really, I appreciate this a lot."

"Yeah well just don't say I never did anything nice for you," Lulu joked.

"I'll try to remember that the next time you forget to bring Kate's coffee and then blame it on me," Maxie looked at her not amused when she does that.

"What?!" Lulu looked at her like she never does that.

"Oh save it," Maxie opened the front door, "I know you purposely did that when she was supposed to meet with Jax…"

Lulu walked through the doorway looking back at Maxie, "Well I had to get back at you for destroying that email!"

Maxie walked out of the front door backwards locking the front door, "Lulu if you would just quit…"

"Oh my god," Lulu stopped on the doorstep.

"What now Lulu?" Maxie turned away from the door bumping right into her, "Yeah let's just stop right in front of the door!"

Lulu shook her head in disbelief, "Holy smokes he cleans up well."

"What are you…" Maxie followed her gaze to see a charming sex man leaning against a really fancy black car, "Wowzers."

--

Next chapter continues right from this point, I decided that I wanted the first date to be done in one whole chapter so I decided to split it cause it was getting pretty long. All that fluff.

Review! And thanks for reading, also if you want spoilers just let me know!


	17. First Date

And now for the update you've all been waiting for...It's pretty long because I wanted the entire date to stand one chapter. I'm not sure when i'll have an update cause I'm in college now so once I figure all that out then I'll get back to writing. There are a lot of hints and foreshadowing in this chapter, if you want spoilers as always pm me and I'll give them to you. Some of the chapter is fluff, but we get Spixie bonding, JoSpin bonding, LuMax bonding and...! We learn something from Spinelli's past...oh and there's a moose mention, ha, I added that for fun.

Chapter 17

Spinelli lit up as Maxie stared at him like he took her breath away, for the first time he felt like his master, Stone Cold Jason Morgan who always had every woman falling at his feet.

For a minute Lulu was able to take her eyes off her sexy best friend and glance at Maxie who looked like she stopped breathing, "Like what you see Maxie?"

When she said nothing back Lulu knew that Maxie was completely fixated on him, "That's what I thought," she walked from Maxie's side taking her first glance at Johnny who looked just as delicious.

Spinelli turned his back to them opening the passenger car door and reaching for a bouquet of flowers where he walked from his car to see Lulu just about to step off the curb.

Lulu just gazed at him with a goofy grin becoming smitten with him standing this close to him, "Damn Spinelli you did good."

He slightly laughed seeing that he had obviously made an impression, "Thanks I guess."

"Go get her," Lulu playfully punched his arm before walking passed him to Johnny who wondered when she was going to give him some attention.

Maxie watched as he walked towards her like a model in her eyes, a model that had great hair, a great smile, and great eyes.

He reached the doorstep where he opened his mouth, but nothing came out except a high pitched "hey" like a thirteen year old boy going into puberty, losing his voice.

He blushed in embarrassment, "let me try that again." He giggled seeing hearing giggle as well, this was so new to him to her, it scared them, but at the same time it didn't because it was them, it was Spinelli and Maxie who for months had no trouble greeting each other until now.

"Hey," he said again with more confidence.

"Heeeey," she slowly said just as nervous as he was, but she couldn't help herself, she was completely mesmerized by what was in front of her, "Spinelli…"

"Here," he showed her the daisies, "These are for you."

"They're beautiful," she smiled taking the bouquet from him and smelling them.

"Just like you and if I may say," he nodded in disbelief at the goddess in front of him, "Maximista you look amazing," he meant every syllable he uttered, she looked so gorgeous that now she was taking his breath away.

"Thanks," she softly smiled really taking what he said to heart.

"I mean it," he licked his lips, "You are just, I'm speechless." He giggled unable to find the words he was looking for.

She giggled back slowing finding a way to get control of her hormones, "Well you don't look so bad yourself," she put her hand on his arm feeling the cold leather which kicked her sex drive into motion again, _forget it_, she thought believing there was no way she'd be able to control herself tonight.

"Really?" he looked down at his clothes, "I was afraid I had over done it."

She laughed like that was impossible, "I'm gonna put these in some water, I'll be right back."

"Sure," he smiled watching her walk back into the house where as soon as she closed the door behind her she leaned on it and began fanning her face, "Oh my…The Jackal looks hot tonight."

Spinelli turned to Johnny and Lulu motioning them to leave like they'd be right behind them.

Johnny nodded looking to Lulu, "I was beginning to think you had a thang for Spinelli."

Lulu laughed, "How could I have thang for Spinelli when I'm hopelessly head over heels in love with you?" She pulled him into a kiss putting an end to his doubt.

She leaned out of the kiss where Johnny quickly took his aviators off, "That's better," he pulled her into another kiss realizing that Spinelli was right about the sunglasses, they looked stupid.

Lulu put her arms around him kissing him once more, "You look so great John."

He smiled at her with that big playful grin that was only reserved for her, "I'm sorry I got mad at you on the phone."

"Well I can see why, you wanted us to come out and see what a piece of work you two are," she joked.

"Yeah well Spinelli was more excited about it then I was."

"Oh?" She released her arms from around his neck and lowered them to his hands, "You weren't trying to impress me?"

"Well," he blushed, "I was," he slightly corrected himself, "But I know I don't need to impress my fair Lulu."

"Fair Lulu?" She looked at him curious, "Do me a favor John…" She sweetly smiled, "Be yourself."

"Okay," he nodded like perhaps the Fair Lulu thing was going a little over bored,  
"That I can do." He kissed her cheek and then moved to the side of her and opened the car door.

"Aren't we going to wait for them?" She looked back up at the house where Spinelli was waiting for Maxie.

"They'll be right behind us, Maxie just went inside to put away the flowers he got her," Johnny explained sort of wondering why it seemed like she was worried about Maxie.

Lulu looked away from the door as Maxie walked through, "Where are my flowers?"

Johnny grinned, "First you told me you don't like flowers."

"John every girl likes flowers," she seriously looked at him wondering how he could think she wouldn't want something.

"Which is why," he reached into his jacket pocket for a short-stemmed rose.

"Oh John," she softly smiled taking it from his hands where after staring at it she embraced him with a hug where her eyes wandered to Maxie and Spinelli.

Spinelli looked at the door, "Are you going to lock the door?"

"Oh yeah," she rolled her eyes completely forgetting to do so she was so distracted.

She grabbed her keys and locked the door where she saw his smile, "Ready?"

"Yeah," she softly smiled walking down the steps where she looked at Lulu who was getting into Johnny's car and Johnny who was waving at them as he got into his car.

"So," Spinelli put his hand down from waving at Johnny, "Did you have fun with Lulu?"

Maxie chuckled, "Oh yeah!"

"Sassy Maxie," he playfully groaned.

"We're making an effort Spinelli," she glanced up at him as they walked in the middle of the street.

"I know you two are," he looked down at her feeling compelled to kissed her forehead and put his hand gently against her back, "And I appreciate it."

She took notice more so then ever before of how gentle he was with her, how he really cherished, for some reason it felt like no one had ever treasured her, the way he did.

They came to stop in front of the car, "You know Spinelli you didn't have to rent a car to take me out, we could have taken mine."

He opened the car door looking down at her, "What makes you think I rented this?"

She looked at him wondering if he was serious, "No way."

"Way," he playfully grinned, "The Jackal is the proud owner of Mr. Martin."

"Spinelli!" She excitedly squealed, "I can't believe you bought a car!" _Like WOW._

"Well," he rolled his eyes, it wasn't exactly true, "I didn't exactly buy it, it was more like a gift."

"From Jason?" Man if it was from Jason then she'd say Jason is the coolest freaking person ever.

"Nope," he wanted to keep her intrigued.

"Well who?" She looked at him wondering who else would buy him this kick ass car.

Spinelli leaned in to tease her, "The Jackal will reveal all if his Maximista can take her seat."

"Okay," she rolled her eyes and got in the car.

He closed her car door and skipped around the front of the car opening his door and closing it, "Seat belt Maximista."

"I'm going!" She put her seat belt on as he started up the car after he put his seat belt on, "So are you going to tell me who gave you such a sweet ride?"

Spinelli looked at her wondering if he should really tell knowing that she couldn't stand Claudia, "In time…in time." He smiled at her before putting the car into drive, checked his mirrors and then slowly sped off to the park where the charity concert was being held.

-

Johnny leaned against the trunk of his car with Lulu pushing herself against his body making out with him, "Johnny I love you."

"I love you too Lulu," Johnny moved his hand to her waist pushing her against his groin, "Lulu…You…are…so…hottttttt."

"Uh hum," Nicholas cleared his throat, "Lulu," Lucky joined in trying to verbally stop her from smothering him.

Lulu sighed rolling her eyes and then turning to her brothers, "Yes?"

"Um Hi," Nicholas wanted a little acknowledgement.

"Hi," Lulu looked at them wondering why she had to be bothered over a simple hi.

Sam and Nadine looked up at their dates understanding Lulu's frustration, "Come on Nicholas," Nadine smiled at Lulu trying to help her.

"You know Lulu you could at least say hi to the brothers who helped you through that mess with Logan," Lucky looked at her annoyed, but not trying to be a jerk about it.

"Help?" Johnny questioned, "You guys didn't help, it was all Spinelli that got us free, save your breath." Johnny cupped Lulu's cheek and pulled her into a kiss.

Lucky quietly uttered under his breath, "I outta…" But Sam grabbed onto his fist, "Lucky let's go." She was about to pull him away and walk across the street when she heard a loud honk, but couldn't see who was in the car because of the tinted windows.

Lulu and Johnny looked at the car pointing to the parking spot they reserved, "Great they're here."

Sam looked at them curious, "Who's here?"

Lulu and Johnny looked at each other deciding not to tell, they had to see it for themselves, "Stick around and you'll see," Johnny grinned before looking at Lulu and nibbling on her neck seeing her brothers barely able to contain themselves.

Sam looked up at Lucky wanting to see his reaction to Johnny's words thinking Lucky might have an idea as to who he was talking about, but instead she saw his death stare at John, "Lucky!" She playfully hit him on the chest, "Leave the crazy kids alone!"

He looked down at her with a playful annoyance, "Alright."

Spinelli turned the emission off, "You ready?" He asked her for this was kind of a big night for her too, her father, her cousin, her friends and family were all here and she was sort of taking a risk showing him to all those people.

She chirped, "I think I should be asking you that Damian." Her smile disappeared, her laughter stopped and her eyes nervously looked at him wondering why she just suddenly called him by his real name.

Spinelli was a little taken back, but in a good way for it meant that she was actually starting to see him in a different light as a man which was the way he wanted to come off as tonight, not just her best friend, but her boyfriend, "Maxie."

"Sorry I meant to say Spinelli, but…" She felt stupid apologizing for it wasn't like it was a big deal.

"Maxie," he gently ran his thumb over her cheek, "I don't care what you call me, Spinelli, Damian, the jackal," he laughed and soon she was too, "Lighten up a bit okay?"

She nodded slightly feeling a tear in her eye, she didn't know why she felt like she was wanted to cry, it no kidding was not a big deal.

"What's wrong?" He could see her eyes were glistening from tears built up, "Are you afraid I'm going to embarrass you?"

She laughed touching his hands before wiping the one tear in her eye, "Spinelli you could never embarrass me."

His face lit up, "Really? Cause sometimes," he didn't know why he was saying this now, but he looked up at her with doubt, "Sometimes I think I do and…"

"Nonsense," she took his hand off her cheek and held both his hands in hers, "Spinelli I love you for everything you are and everything you want to be," she touched his jacket and acknowledge their surroundings, "I want to be with you," she saw his gaze leave hers and she tried to find it, "I want to be with you so bad that I'm even willing to see an old washed up 80's band."

Spinelli laughed, "I promise if they're horrible we'll leave," he faintly said as he looked up at her to see the most adorable woman in his eyes, so adorable that he couldn't help but crash his lips into hers and enrich the kiss as he tasted the tangy lip gloss on her lips, she was right, it would make him wild.

"Spin…" She tried to say, but his lips were like suction cups and as always she couldn't pull herself away from him.

Sam looked at Lulu and Johnny who were just as curious as to why this was taking so long, "I'll get them," Johnny walked passed Lulu to the window of the driver's seat and knocked on it, "Hello!"

Spinelli and Maxie giggled slowly pulling away from each other to lean their foreheads against each other, "Um…" Maxie giggled once more glancing at the window to see an obnoxious Johnny shouting, "Do you two love birds think you can come out!"

Maxie glanced away from the window, "I guess it's time to make our début?"

Spinelli grinned, "I guess so, hang on I'll open the door for you."

"Okay," she softly smiled watching put the keys in his pocket and then open the car door.

Sam watched this man who she thought looked familiar, step out of the car, "Spinelli?"

Spinelli sneaked a smile on his face letting her know that it was indeed him, Spinelli.

"Oh my," Sam looked at him in disbelief at the suave man walking around the front of the car.

"God," Lucky uttered feeling like he was at a circus instead of a charity benefit, a kid like him should a) not be dressed as he is but b) not be allowed to drive such an awesome car.

Maxie quickly checked her make up in the mirror, hoping the one tear she had in her eyes hadn't messed anything up and luckily it hadn't. She turned to the door as it opened in front of her and stepped out grabbing his hand, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said in a deep sexy voice that was nothing like the nervous Jackal she was so accustomed to, it continued to dawn on her that she gave Spinelli confidence to be someone he never thought he could be.

She closed the car door and walked with him to the crowed that looked pretty stunned to see them except for Johnny and Lulu that is.

Spinelli locked his car hearing the chirp when heard Patrick's voice, "Is that your car Spinelli?"

Spinelli grinned, _you bet it is! _"Oh this? Mr. Aston Martin? Yeah it's mine." He tried not to show off, but how could he not show his excitement, this was an awesome flippin' car that everyone was gawking at and it was his, all his.

"Ass-ton Martin?" Patrick asked leaving Robin's side to check out the car.

"Yes," Spinelli nodded looking down at Maxie almost wanting to laugh at how excited Patrick was over the car.

"No way," Patrick looked up at him, "I've driven, just test driven one when I was at the dealership just the other day, but…sadly I have to purchase a family car," he felt Robin's hand harshly hit his arm where he quickly turned to her, "Not to say that I don't mind buying a suburban cause I want to be a dad and…your right and I'm wrong so you in."

Robin smirked at his groveling, "Uh huh well Spinelli…" She looked up at him, "You look very nice tonight, both of you."

Maxie nervously blushed before looking up at Spinelli squeezing his hand, "Thanks," she glanced back at Robin.

"Well we better get going," Robin looked at Patrick and well everyone else that just awkwardly standing waiting for Maxie and Spinelli's move.

"Right," Sam said in agreement looking up at Lucky, "Come on let's go…" She knew Maxie and Spinelli along with Johnny and Lulu probably wanted some privacy.

As they walked by with Nicholas and Nadine following from behind, Sam winked Maxie and gave Spinelli a thumbs up, wishing them both luck.

Robin let Lucky and Nicholas go ahead before turning to Maxie, "If you need to see me I'll be back stage so come say hi or something."

"Alright!" Maxie grinned although she probably wouldn't cause she'd be too enamored by Spinelli to leave his side.

"Okay!" Robin looked away from her to Patrick who was still checking out the car and took Patrick's hand trying to get him to walk with her and just as they turned away Spinelli excitedly shouted, "Oh and Patrick!" Spinelli didn't expect Patrick to really turn to him, but he did as did Robin as well, "Anytime you want to borrow Mr. Martin…" He pointed at Patrick and then at himself implying to just let him know.

"Serious?" Patrick asked wondering if he was really serious.

"Yeah," he pointed with his thumb back at the car, "I have another one in orange so…"

"You do?" Maxie turned to him just as surprised as Patrick, Robin and Lulu, wondering when Spinelli decided to be Mr. Spender.

"Yes," he smiled before looking up at Patrick who was just staring at him speechless.

"Patrick?" Robin called his name where he rolled his eyes snapping out of the racetrack, "Just a sec!" He ran to Spinelli hugging him, "I will so take you up on your offer." He patted him on the back.

Maxie crossed her arms humorously laughing at Spinelli who didn't expect that embrace, she thought Robin would be laughing too, but she was not at all amused by Patrick's behavior.

Patrick grabbed him by the shoulder pointing at him, "You and I drinks at Jakes and you know what?" He grinned, "I'll give you all the advice you want on women!"

Spinelli chuckled, "Thanks, but I don't think that'll be necessary anymore…" Spinelli wandered his lips to Maxie's cheek where he then put his hands around her waist.

As soon as he interlaced his hands with hers over her waist she felt nervous, butterflies in her stomach, she didn't know why she was having that reaction, but actually she did. It was because the idea that she had little wee one growing inside of her and he just happen to graze his hands over what would be their child, made her uncomfortable for Maxie had an imagination and she could imagine him doing that all the time if he knew a baby existed.

Spinelli rested his cheek against hers explaining to Patrick why he didn't need anymore advice, "I got the girl…so…" He looked down at her who glowed as he said that, Maxie knew he'd let go of her as soon as Patrick left so there was no reason to pull herself away from him now.

"Well," Patrick didn't seem to care for Spinelli's offer just made his day, "I'll buy you a drink and be your friend for the rest of your life if you let me have a day with that car."

Robin walked up interrupting Patrick, "Oh and when will you have time for that? In between changing diapers and feeding this little one," she pointed to her belly.

"Well, I'm just saying when I have one of those free days."

"Yeah, right," she took his hand and gently patted his chest, "Come on honey, your racecar days are over."

He slightly pouted, "Robin," he whined as she tagged him away from them.

Spinelli removed his arms from her waist where he gently pushed her ponytail aside and sweetly kissed her neck. Maxie turned her cheek to his lips acknowledging his tender actions, but at the same time unable to take her eyes or stop her ears from listening to Patrick and Robin's argument that grew fader as they walked away further

"Patrick, you're going to be a father in how many months…" She lingered.

"Soon," Patrick was about to say more when Robin interrupted, "Which means you have to stop acting like you wish you were his age."

"I don't wish I was his age!" He yelled, "But damn it Robin! When I said I wanted to be committed to you and the baby, to be a father I wasn't saying that I was going to give up my life, my career, my passions!"

It was as if she was looking in on what her future with Spinelli would like as they argued. Robin wanting someone who was more committed and Patrick not wanting to exactly be committed any more then he already was. It was a fear that Maxie believed Spinelli would fall into. Even though he had proposed marriage yesterday and a lifetime of security, she still believed that no matter how great Spinelli was, he'd still be like every other man that runaways from commitment and she was afraid he'd runaway from committing to her.

"Robin this baby has joined our lives, okay? We are not going to change the way we live or our careers or the things we love to do, our lives are not going to revolve around a baby!"

"Maxie?" Spinelli called her name seeing she was very tuned in to her cousin's conversation with her boy friend, "Maximista?"

"Yeah?" She turned to him trying not to appear as if she had been eavesdropping.

He glanced up at Patrick and Robin who were still bickering and then glanced at Maxie, "I shouldn't have offered my car to Patrick."

She could see he felt kind of bad about it seeing as that was the reason Patrick and Robin were now arguing, "Spinelli it's not you're fault they're acting like five year olds."

"I know, but," he sighed, "I just wanted to be nice and…"

Maxie put her hands on his chest looking up at him, "You were being nice," she cupped his cheek forcing him to look down at her, "And I'm sure one day before he becomes a daddy," she giggled, "He will come to you in desperate need of trying to hold onto his youth."

She kept cheering him up as his frown wouldn't go away, "Spinelli, they were going to have the argument whether you offered or not, you saw the way he was looking at this car and at you wishing he was a couple years younger."

"I know," he looked away from her, "But it was as if I encouraging him to runaway from his impending father hood and I wasn't trying to do that at all and now I fear that Dr. Robin will..."

"Hey," Maxie softly said before stroking her fingers through his brown hair, "Robin just thinks that if she doesn't keep him on a leash that he'll leave her and the baby and that's just silly because he's crazy about them."

"So," she took her hand off his cheek to grab his hand, "Stop feeling like you just broke them up because they do this all the time and…" She saw Patrick and Robin finally making up, "See."

Spinelli looked at the two who were now sweetly kissing each other, "Okay you've convinced me."

"Good," she squeezed his hand and walked him over to Johnny and Lulu who couldn't stop having their tongues down each other's throats.

"Gag me," Maxie uttered, "Um do you guys need a hotel room because I'm pretty sure Spinelli and I drove by one on our way here."

Lulu leaned away from Johnny pecking his lips, "Okay we're done." Lulu groaned looking away from Johnny while taking his hand in hers and looking at Maxie to see if she was satisfied, "Happy now?"

"Um yeah!" Maxie turned to Spinelli.

Spinelli slightly laughed at her before looking over his shoulder to Johnny who was making his way with Lulu to his other side, "So Maverick how was the ride?"

Spinelli playfully grinned while trying to stay in character of their banter, "Pretty good Iceman."

Maxie looked at Lulu wondering what was up, but she had no idea either.

Johnny smiled at Lulu and then glanced at Spinelli, "You think you might be ready for a little need for speed game?"

Spinelli laughed, "No Iceman, this fighter pilot is deciding to go under the radar and avoid dangerous speeds at all times."

Johnny frowned obviously bummed out, "Man I can not call you Maverick."

"And why not…" Spinelli looked at Johnny wondering why he was not worthy of the name 'Maverick'.

"Because you are by far not his character, you're too safe," he looked up at Spinelli, "Not like that's really bad or anything, but I'm officially right now stating myself as Maverick."

"Okay so I'm Iceman then, cause Iceman follows all the rules, he's a smooth operator." Spinelli grinned slightly pointing to himself.

"Yeah okay," Johnny agreed for a minute before changing his mind, "Nah you're not Iceman."

"Oh for goodness sake," Maxie thought this was ridiculous, "Since when do you guys refer to each other as inanely hot fighter pilots?"

Spinelli and Johnny looked at her wondering why she couldn't let them have fun with their new friendship, "Since today Maxie," Johnny looked at her like it was very official.

"Well," Lulu fired back, "Why don't you Johnny, call yourself John and Spinelli will call himself Spinelli or the Jackal or whatever okay?"

Spinelli and Johnny glared at their girlfriends, "We were just having fun Maximista."

"No a headache is what you were giving us," Maxie laughed looking at Lulu who agreed, "Yeah so just stop with the male camaraderie."

Spinelli rolled his eyes as he reached into his pocket for his wallet that had the tickets in them, "Here you go," he handed them to the ticket master who ripped them and then handed them back.

"I've got it!" Johnny said as he handed the tickets to the man who ripped them and then handed them back to him, the ticket master handed their tickets back to him and Lulu, "I've got it Spinelli."

Spinelli turned to Johnny who was catching up to him and Maxie, "Mother Goose."

"Oh gawd!" Maxie rolled her eyes, "Not this again."

"Can't you guys drop this?" Lulu tugged on Johnny's arm.

"Yeah seriously," Maxie quietly tugging on Spinelli's arm as they walked through the park.

Johnny kindly turned to Lulu, "No," he turned to Spinelli, "Spinelli…"

Spinelli nodded in objection almost laughing, "No," Spinelli strongly objected.

Johnny gasped in annoyance, "What's wrong with Mother Goose?" He chuckled, "He's the good guy."

"Aw yes," Spinelli nodded before animating his hand towards Johnny, "But on the contrary, he's also the guy that dies in the end…and that's just bad karma," Spinelli looked away from him like that was a perfectly good reason to not call himself that.

"Yes, but," Johnny pretended like that part didn't exist, "He looks out for everyone, he's the family guy with the wife and the kid."

Spinelli looked up at him somewhat laughing, "And I don't have a wife or a kid."

Maxie glanced up at Spinelli the second he mention of kid, it was just sign after sign, that was making her wanting to get off the subject of kids even though only one word was mentioned.

Lulu could see Maxie's uncomfortable face at the mention of the topic, "You know why can't you guys call each other super heroes?"

_Aw yes brilliant Lulu!_ Maxie thought, quickly adding, "Yeah like he's batman," she pointed to Spinelli, "And your Robin," she looked at Johnny and then looked at them as a whole, "There you go, end of discussion," she looked away from them seeing the stage, "Let's go!"

-

"There you are!" A man with a clipboard in his hand and a black t-shirt with the word _Crew _written in white approached Spinelli who was having his hair played with by some blonde.

Maxie looked at the man that was coming towards him, "Spinelli do you know this guy?"

Spinelli looked at him, "No I don't." He braced himself as the man stopped in front of him almost out of breath, "Damian Spinelli right?"

"Correct," Spinelli slowly nodded taking a glance at Maxie wondering what she thought, but she too was just as weary yet curious at the same time.

"Oh great!" The man sighed in relief, "We've been looking everywhere for you!" The man grabbed his radio getting ready to call the search off.

"Me?" Spinelli pointed to himself.

"Yeah, don't you know?" The man paused his conversation with them to speak into the radio, "Yeah it's Paul, I found him, we're on our way."

The man looked up at Spinelli, "Come on you're wanted on stage!" He grabbed Spinelli by the arm.

"Excuse me?" Spinelli wouldn't move with him.

The man looked at him wondering why he seemed so confused, "Didn't you get the memo?" Obviously not, "Mr. Spinelli, you're introducing Eli Love!"

Spinelli's mouth dropped, "Wha…what?"

"Yeah what?" Maxie looked at the man with same confusion only she was a little more playful with the idea.

"Oh jeez!" The man rolled his eyes, "Damian it was in the tickets we sent you, they want you to start the concert off because you're the hero you're the guy that saved that girl…" He paused realizing that girl was Maxie, the girl right next to him holding Spinelli's hand, "Anyways they want you, the celebrity, the guy that's been in the public eye to kick things off."

"Um," Spinelli nervously laughed, "You have to be kidding."

"I'm not, we air in the fifteen minutes and you still need to learn how to read off a teleprompter," the man grabbed him.

"No," Spinelli looked at him becoming agitated, "The Jackal made a nice donation, a very nice one and…"

"And that's why they want you up there! You gave back to the community that saved your life!" The man smiled trying to get him to go along.

Maxie watched him tense up with frustration not at all wanting to be used as propaganda or for any other reason, "Give us three minutes." She put her hand on Spinelli's shoulder and turned to the man who looked unsure, "Just give us three minutes."

"Fine," he gave them the privacy they needed.

Spinelli looked away from him as he walked off, "Maximista the Jackal can not do this!"

"Yes you can!" She playfully laughed.

"Noooo," he nodded completely terrified, "The jackal is not charismatic enough!"

"The Jackal is a genius!" She put her hands on his cheeks, "Spinelli…look at me."

He reluctantly looked at her, "Spinelli all you're doing is reading a few lines and introducing your favorite band, opportunities like this don't happen very often," she moves her hands to his chest.

"But what if the Jackal messes up?" He asked her becoming very worried, "He's going to embarrass himself and you and everyone else he knows."

He frowned before softly rambling losing all the confidence he once had before, "And then you're gonna see what a loser the Jackal really is…" He looked away from her, "And we'll go back to being just the Jackal and the blonde one."

She looked at him as if he couldn't be anymore wrong, "I think that's the stupidest thing that's ever come out of your usual brilliant mouth."

He looked at her not at all expecting those words, "Spinelli," she sincerely looked at him trying be that voice of reason that he usually is to her.

"Maximista," he sighed not exactly wanting to hear what she had to say.

"Act as if you're just talking to me okay? Act as if it's just us in the room alright?" She looked at him like everything would be fine, "Be that charming man that was always in front of me but too blonde to see him."

She saw him nervously smile slightly laughing, "Spinelli you'll always be my hero and my best friend and the man I love, one silly mishap isn't going to stop me front thinking of you as all those things, I'm not that shallow."

Spinelli nodded slowly blinking, "No Maximista is not shallow, she is as usual right."

Maxie smiled, "And I am most definitely right in this case, you're going to be great."

He laughed rolling his eyes, "Alright." He looked at the man insinuating he would do it.

The man smiled motioning him to walk over to him, but just as Spinelli began to move Maxie tugged on his arm, "Wait."

Spinelli looked at her curious, "Yes? You want me to get an autograph of…?"

"No," put her hand on his cheek, "I want to give you a good luck kiss," and like that she pulled him into a powerful passionate smoocheroo.

She slowly leaned away from him, seeing he was a little winded as he touched his lips like that was some kiss, "Good luck Spin."

"You ready?" The man decided to walk over to him otherwise he thought this kid would never come with him.

Maxie smile with excitement, "Yup he's all ready!" She played with the collar of his leather jacket before playfully hitting his chest, "Have fun Spinelli!"

He grinned as the man pulled him away and walked him to behind the scenes of the stage where Maxie lost sight of him and then turned to Lulu's voice as she an Johnny returned from whatever they had been doing, no pun intended or anything, "Where's Spinelli?"

"You'll see," Maxie smiled glancing at the stage and then back to Lulu where the two talked with Johnny about random things until about ten minutes later Maxie saw her father in the distance, her father with the person she least likely expected.

"Maxie!" Mac excitedly walked over to her happy that he had been able to find her in the crowd.

"Oh that's ironic," Lulu tried to keep a straight face as Kelly Lee, Dr. Lee, Ob-gyn, walked beside her father.

"Shut up Lulu," Maxie quietly grinned not at all amused by Lulu's little joke, "Mac!"

Mac embraced her with a hug, "You're looking very beautiful."

She rolled her eyes like she looked nothing special, "Thanks."

"Yeah, glowing," Lulu joked and Maxie cringed freezing her smile.

"So dad is this…" Maxie looked up at Kelly, "You're da-date?"

He looked over his shoulder at Kelly, "Well yes, but I was supposed to go with Bobbie, but she got called into surgery so…" Mac politely smiled at Kelly, gently putting his hand against her back.

Kelly could see she was a little hesitant about the idea, "Maxie I had nothing else to do tonight and Eli Love is hot so I thought since he had a ticket that I'd just go with him…It's not a real date or anything."

"It can be," Maxie wanted to seem supportive of Mac dating again no matter how much she was uncomfortable with him dating the woman in front of her, "I mean if you two want it to be don't let me stand in your way."

"No Maxie," Kelly seriously looked at her like she had nothing to worry about.

"Where's Spinelli?" Mac asked not really paying attention to the girls talk, but looking for his daughter's supposed boyfriend.

"Good question," Johnny looked at Maxie where soon Lulu looked at her too just as curious.

But before Maxie could even hint to where he was lights began flashing on the stage along with an instrumental version of Eli Love's "Who Killed Rock N' Roll" playing.

A few minutes later fog began filling the stage where a microphone stand rose up from a secret compartment of the stage and soon another platform raised where a man, who only Maxie knew would be Spinelli, walked to the microphone, "Is that?" Mac looked at Maxie and then back at the stage, "Is that Spinelli?"

She grinned, "Maybe," she shrugged her shoulders like he'd just have to wait and see.

Her words ran through his mind over and over again, _Act as if you're just talking to me okay? Act as if it's just us in the room alright? _He stood in front of the microphone waiting for the music to die down before reading the teleprompter.

He took a deep breath before leaning into the microphone holding his hands behind his back, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen..."

"That's Spinelli," Lulu said in aw looking at Maxie who just gazed up at Spinelli feeling like the coolest person in the world because that was her boyfriend.

Spinelli took notice of Sam and Nadine waving at him, "And…Viewers at home."

-

Jason turned the TV on and leaned over to his coffee table where he had a bean and cheese burrito cooling down on a plate, "Okay…" He smiled looking down at the first meal he had all day. Picking it up in his hands he looked up at the TV taking a huge bite into the video when he heard a voice and saw a man who looked like his Spinelli.

He stopped chewing the food in his mouth completely glued at the TV listening to Spinelli's perfect speech and his charming looks, the leather jacket that didn't look like his.

"What the…" He suddenly stopped when he felt a splatter of something touch his bare foot and then he looked to see his burrito was leaking, "Oh shit!"

-

"Every year," Spinelli smiled almost proud of the words he was about to say, "Partners of General Hospital and other businesses and organizations come together for one cause, for the people of the Port Charles community," he paused letting the clapping take effect.

"This year such an event has taken place in the form of a concert where musical artists from all over have come here to play for you in hopes that you will donate to General Hospital, to the Stone Cates Memorial Aid wing or to the Emily Quartermaine Insurance for the uninsured Clinic," he let a minute pass as people that knew Stone and Emily took a brief moment to remember them.

"In cumulative years Thirty-Million dollars has been raised thanks to your generous hearts and tonight Jasper Jacks along with Nicholas Cassadine have offered to match all of tonight's proceeds," he finished the most important sentence so far of the entire speech.

The crowd cheered where Spinelli saw Nicholas and Jax wave to the people around them like their contribution was no big deal. As the clapping settled down Spinelli had been looking at the teleprompter not agreeing the next couple of lines about himself so he scrambled to come up with something a little more from the heart.

Spinelli slid his hands into his pocket "Having recently been a patient at General Hospital I wanted to thank the doctors, the nurses and the staff for efficiently saving my life when all hope was lost."

Spinelli glanced at the side of the stage where the production people were looking at him to just read the teleprompter and he almost considered doing just that when Eli Love and Toussaint Dubois walked to the director's station. Eli Love saying something to them which Spinelli read as "Just role with it" and Toussaint nodding at him to continue.

He glanced back to the crowd who had taken his five second pause as appropriate timing, "For not giving up on me when I gave up on myself," he somberly let the words settle in before profoundly speaking once more.

"It takes a dedicated team of professionals," he looked at Dr. Julian in the audience as well Leyla and Nadine, "To pull off the kind of miracle that was worked on me."

He then slowly smiled looking very poised, "To show my gratitude for the way they not only saved my life, but for the miracles they perform everyday, for the families they give hope to," he then glanced at Maxie as if his next words were directed to her, "For the happy tender reunions they create for the patient and the people they love and care about," he looked at her like she truly was the only one in the room.

He gazed back at the crowd as a whole not wanting the entire audience to turn around and stare at Maxie as if they didn't already know that the doctors, nurses and staff he talked of had reunited him with her, the woman he loved and cared about, "I thank them from the bottom of my now repaired heart…" He touched his heart as the crowd roared with laughter, "I thank you which is why I proudly with great honor donate five hundred thousand dollars to General Hospital."

Maxie shockingly looked at Spinelli wondering what he was doing donating five hundred grand to the hospital, she didn't even think he had five hundred grand, was he nuts?

Spinelli leaned into the microphone again getting ready to wrap up his introduction, "So tonight before you leave here and those of you at home before the program is over, pour your heart out in whatever you can give," he then softly smiled, "Because your contribution today just might save a life tomorrow."

The crowd clapped very much moved by his words, "Without further ado!" He shouted, "Give a warm welcoming to what becomes of the broken hearted, the Saints!" Spinelli clapped as he turned his attention to Toussaint Dubois and the rest of the gang that came out of the fog with glowing purple lights shined on them. Spinelli walked down from the stage afraid that he'd have people yelling at him, but instead they looked at him like he was no kidding a genius, "You just brought the ratings up! We've gotten a hundred phone calls in the past two minutes!" The director raved before getting back to pushing buttons on the switchboard.

Spinelli smiled at himself, _everything went great! Just like she said it would!_

"Hey kid," Eli Love walked up to him, "That had a lot of heart."

"Thanks," Spinelli took his compliment to heart.

"You had those guys freaking out," he pointed with his thumb sticking out at the crew, "But it was lot better then the crap they had written for you, way to go," Eli patted him on the back.

Spinelli excitedly smiled, honored by his words, "Why thank you."

"You got guts kid, your free to stay back stage if you want," he handed him two back stage passes, "One for your lady, who I must say…" He leaned in, "Is very hot, nice."

Spinelli grinned not really liking the way Eli talked of her like a piece of meat, "Thanks."

"No problem, I got to get ready so I'll see you later," he grinned before turning away from him.

"Hey Eli?" Spinelli turned to him wondering if Eli would be willing to help him out, "Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor?" Spinelli looked at him having an idea brewing in his mind.

"Uh sure kid," Eli smiled where Spinelli walked towards him explaining the pickle he was in and how he'd pretty much have Mac Scorpio's blessing to be with his daughter if Eli did this one favor.

-

Maxie was grooving to the music with Lulu and Johnny beside her, but at the same time looking around for Spinelli, surely he had not forgotten about her and decided to stay back stage with all the other rockers.

And then suddenly she felt his hands around her waist, "So Maximista," he whispered into her ear, "How was the Jackal?"

"Spinelli!" She squealed turning to him placing her hands on his chest, "You stud."

Spinelli giggled, "So I didn't make a fool out myself?"

"No!" She laughed pulling herself closer to him, "You had the crowd hanging on to every single word," she seductively leaned in towards his lips.

"Do I get some kind of reward for being my brilliant usual self?" He looked down at her with a playful grin.

"I suppose," she rolled her eyes before putting her arms around him and softly kissing his lips.

He heard the playful giggling of his daughter and glanced at her only to see she wasn't laughing at the band, she was laughing as Spinelli and her shared sweet intimate kisses.

Spinelli saw at the corner of his eye Mac staring at him, "Commissioner sir?"

"Hi Spinelli," he groaned.

"Daddy," Maxie looked at him to remember the promise he made earlier.

"I didn't say anything," Mac looked at her like he was not at all backing out on their deal.

"It's okay," Spinelli smiled reaching into his pocket, "Here…" He handed two back stage passes to him, "They're yours."

"Spinelli I couldn't," he looked up from the passes.

"Take them," Spinelli insisted, "Come on, you get to meet all your favorite bands, get their autographs, what's not to like?"

"Yeah, what's not to like dad?" Maxie looked at him to just accept Spinelli's gift.

Mac annoyingly eyed him; "You know you make it impossible for me to hate you when you do stuff like this."

"That was my plan, you caught me." Spinelli sarcastically retorted back, "You caught me red handed Commissioner."

Mac laughed at his sarcasm, how different the kid acted when he wasn't nervous around his peers, "Fine, but don't think that I'm still okay with you sleeping with my daughter."

All Spinelli thought was thank god its dark out because once Mac said that he turned red, "No of course not sir."

Mac looked at him, "I'm watching you," he turned to Kelly and showed her the back stage passes and she was instantly excited to go with him, she even decided to sweetly hold his hand.

As Kelly walked passed Maxie she smiled at her, "And I'll see you not this week, but the next?"

Maxie looked at her a little confused where Kelly led on, "For your regular check up?"

"Yes! Right!" Maxie smiled like she remembered, "I'll see you, you two have fun." She laughed while inside she was cringing, just great.

Once Mac and Kelly were on there way Spinelli put his hands around her waist leaning his cheek against hers, "God your father is a piece of work."

"He'll warm up to you, I promise," she glanced up at him kissing his cheek.

"Yeah well…I can't help but wonder what he would do if he found out we almost thought you were pregnant," Spinelli sighed like he'd be a dead man, "God that would be a disaster, our child would grow up with no father," he joked.

She slightly laughed with him once she heard the other end of his joke, "Spinelli," she looked up at him, "He would not kill you."

Spinelli humorously huffed, "Uh yes he would, the jackal would be no more."

"Spinelli," she softly said turning to him where she put her hands on his cheeks, "I wouldn't let him kill you or do anything to you, if I had to move out and marry you…" She chuckled almost wondering what that would be like, "I would."

"You can't chose the Jackal over your own father," he looked at her, "I could never let you do that, having parents is a privilege."

"And having you is a privilege," she tenderly rubbed her thumb against his smooth cheek.

She gazed up at him, "I'm lucky to have you."

He slowly nodded in disagreement, "No I'm lucky to have you…"

"We're lucky to have each other," she concluded before leaning into kiss him.

He leaned away after she kissed him, "That's another reason I got rid of your father…"

She giggled where he continued, "So we can do this…" He kissed her gently the lips, "As many times as we want and he won't give me that stare like I'm hurting you."

They giggled where just as Maxie was about to say something in return Johnny popped his head in, "Yeah some people are trying to listen to the music…" He put his fingers to his mouth and shushed them.

Maxie rolled her eyes, "Fine," she stuck her tongue out at Johnny who obnoxiously grinned back, "Thank you!"

"Johnny!" Lulu annoyingly sighed at his ridiculousness and pulled him back towards her, taking his hands and putting them around her, "Will you stop bothering them!"

Maxie laughed turning away from Spinelli as he was caressing her neck where their attention fell on Eli Love who was walking onto the stage.

Spinelli leaned away from caressing her neck and clapped his hands cheering Eli on with the rest of the crowd.

"Hello folks!" Eli smiled, "You're expecting me to play "Who Kill Rock N' Roll" but would it be okay if I played a new song for you?"

The crowd cheered like it didn't matter to them, "Alright!" He turned to his band to start playing, "This is on my new album, I'll miss that someday."

He began playing the song where Maxie turned to Spinelli, "That was really nice what did you for Mac." She looked at him sincerely meaning it, Mac hadn't had a fun night to himself in a long time, she couldn't even remember the last time he seemed happy since Georgie's death, "Really Spinelli, you made his day, thank you."

"Your welcome," he softly smiled at her where she smiled back and then they turned to Eli who was about to hit the climax of the song.

"Two worlds collide…"

_They were opposites who couldn't be anymore attracted to one another, couldn't be anymore in love then they already were._

"Well you and I…"

Spinelli leaned over shoulder, his cheek almost resting on hers.

"Will love when love's invisible."

He put his arms around her waist interlacing her hands with his.

"Take the time to say…"

He kissed her cheek and then looked back up at Eli while Maxie glanced down at their hands wondering when the truth comes out, when things are said, when decisions are made, will they look back on this moment and wished they had said as Eli advised "I'll miss that someday" as if such happiness wouldn't last forever.

Johnny squeezed Lulu's abdomen while whispering into her ear, "This was a great idea…" He smiled while looking up at her expecting her to rub her cheek against his, but instead her focus was elsewhere, not at the stage, but at Maxie, not at Spinelli or the two as a whole, but on their hands, on her waist, below her waist…_wait a second, something is up._

Johnny glanced up at Spinelli who was completely oblivious to how uncomfortable Maxie was, it was as if she was acting with him, showing pleasure as he caressed her neck and then looking away in misery. What was her angle? Spinelli loved her, hell he spent a lot of money on her today and for what? To be used? To be disgusted every time he showed how much he enjoyed her company? Spinelli deserved better, he saved her life Christ's sake and this is how she repays him? It was then he began to wonder if everything Lulu ever said about her was true, she was playing him just like she had played all the other men in her life. It was pitiful and even though he didn't know Spinelli that long, even though he wasn't his best friend like they so humorously teased, he had to at least give it a shot, he had to at least tell Spinelli the truth about the blonde woman who stole his heart because it was obvious that something wasn't right here and Johnny just didn't think Spinelli should have to suffer any more, not after what he's been through.

"Johnny?" Lulu softly called his name catching him in a stare.

He looked back at her, "I said this was a great idea."

She rubbed her cheek against his, "Yes it was." She lightly kissed his cheek wondering what exactly Johnny knew, what he was assuming and what he wanted to tell Spinelli.

-

The concert ended three hours later, 10 pm to be exact and Spinelli and Johnny were walking with their tiresome girl friends who hung onto them like their life depended on it, to the car.

"Ug!" Maxie quietly sighed, "I can't walk any further," she whined with her hand around Spinelli's waist and her other on his chest.

"I can't either," Lulu joined in before looking up at Johnny placing her hand on his chest, "Carry me."

Johnny huffed in a chirp of laughter as he looked down at her, she wasn't amused, "John its not funny, stop laughing."

He softly laughed harder glancing to Spinelli who was trying to keep Maxie awake, "And they said they wouldn't have fun."

"I know," Spinelli laughed before looking down at Maxie, "Maximista? I see the car…"

She looked up at the car that seemed a zillion miles away, "Uggggg." She tucked her head further into his chest.

Spinelli softly laughed, "The Jackal presumes you would like him to carry you?"

Maxie looked up at her comfy white pillow that she wanted to rest on, but knew she couldn't, "No I can't…You're shoulder."

Spinelli rolled his eyes, "Forget my shoulder."

He looked back down at her, "If Maximista wants the Jackal to carry her, he will."

She stopped in her tracks where she saw him look down at her in concern, but then relieved the tension on his face when she softly smiled at him, once again in aw again that he would subject himself to pain just for her, "Really?"

"Ye-ah," he barely nodded while smiling, "Come on," he stroked her blonde bangs before sweeping her off his feet.

"Spinelli," she whined in concern, instantly cupping his cheek when she saw his face tense up.

"I'm okay," he insisted, but she looked at him knowing he wasn't, "Spin, you don't have to do this," she ran her hand through his hair.

"The Jackal appreciates you looking out for him, but if he can get over his fear of stage freight he can certainly carry his blonde one to a car thirty feet away," he honestly looked at her to relax.

_Always so brave_, it's what she loved about him, "My hero," she kissed his cheek before putting her arms around him and resting her head on his chest.

He felt her head just bellow his chin and smiled; some how the pain didn't seem as bad when she was there to soak his wounds, somehow it didn't hurt as much when she was there to praise his efforts for trying so hard to please her.

"Good night Johnny," Spinelli smiled as he walked passed Johnny and Lulu, "Mother Goose had fun with Maverick," he teased almost too tired himself to laugh.

"I did too Spinelli, I'll call you later this week, maybe we can get a drink?" Johnny insisted.

"Sure," he nodded before facing his car and then glancing down at Maxie who already seemed to be asleep, "We're almost there sleepy head."

Lulu looked up at Johnny pouting, "Why does she get to be carried to the car and I don't?"

"Because," he looked down at her knowing she'd hate his reason which was sort of a joke, "You're a Spencer."

"Zacchara…" She evil eyed him.

"Oh Lulu," he giggled putting his around her forcing her to walk the remaining steps to the car.

"Don't oh Lulu me," Lulu grumpily retorted back refusing to respond to his tenderly kisses he was applying to her cheek. "Lulu you don't need to be carried because I'm going to carry you to my bed as soon as we get home."

By now Lulu seemed to be just as out of it as Maxie, "Ok-ay johnnny," she closed her eyes and Johnny couldn't help but sweep her off her feet not wanting to take thirty minutes directing her to the car.

Spinelli unlocked his car and then gently set her in the car putting her seat belt and closing the car door without making a ton of noise.

He waved goodbye to Johnny and Lulu in the distance and they sat in the car where as he started up the engine he looked at Maxie who was trying to get comfortable in the car seat, "Are you really that tired?"

She barely looked at him yawning, "What time is it?"

He looked at his handy dandy six thousand dollar Rolex watch, "A little after ten."

"Seriously?" She surprisingly looked at him as if there was definitely no way they'd go home now.

"Yeah," he slightly laughed, it was early for him too considering he usually didn't go to bed until three in the morning when he worked for Stone Cold.

"Let's not go home," she honestly looked at him.

"But you're tired Maximista," he sincerely whined knowing she could use a little beauty sleep as could he.

"Spinelli," she looked him sternly in the eye, "We've been standing for three hours, that's why I'm tired."

"You make a good point Maximista," he smiled, "but."

"No buts," she turned away from him looking at windshield, "Drive me somewhere."

"Uhhhh…"

She looked at him flailing her arms around, "Anywhere Spinelli, anywhere but home."

"Okay," he started the engine back up completely surprised by the turn of events, happy however because he definitely had more planned.

"Alright!" She excitedly clamped her hands together before quickly glancing at him, "Oh and Spinelli?"

"Yes Maximista?" He glanced at her just as he was about to pull out of the parking space.

"I hope this doesn't change your plans," she nervously bit her lip, but after what they had just been through she wanted to make sure wherever they were going didn't involve any, standing for long periods of time.

He looked at her to just spit it out, "Does Maximista have a place she would like me to take her?" He certainly hoped not, but he figured if she did he could some how work his plans into it.

"Well no, I don't care where you take us just as long as we're alone and not standing," she giggled knowing it sounded stupid.

"Noooo," he nodded like there would probably be no standing, "I promise they'll be no standing unless you want to." He smiled assuredly and then turned his focus back to pulling out of the parking space where as he put the car drive he turned to her, "Oh and Maximista?"

He looked at her knowing she probably wasn't expecting what he was about say, "You don't have to worry about us being alone."

"Oh I don't?" She playfully replied back feeling the urge to lean towards him.

"No…" He playfully lingered as her lips came close to his where she seductively glanced up into his eyes, "You know I'm beginning to think the Jackal is up to something."

He playfully looked at her surprised, "Mwah? The Jackal?" He pretended to be slightly offended humorously looking away from her to the traffic in front of him that was beginning to move.

"Yes," she touched his leg where he smirked at her, "Spinelli I think you've got a plan, I think you had something planned this entire time, this date wasn't supposed to end right after the concert was it?"

"No it wasn't," he turned to her seeing the 'ah ha I knew it' face.

She touched his hand with excitement, "You have to tell me where we're going!"

"Nope can't," he locked his lips and threw the invisible key out the window.

"Spinelli!" She couldn't believe he was teasing her like this, "Well I'm just going to have to get it out of you," she motioned to tickle him where he playfully laughed putting his hand up in front of her, "You will do no such thing!"

"Watch me!" She moved her hands closer to him where he seriously looked at her trying not to give in, "The Jackal will not crash Mr. Martin because you are not willing to be a good little blonde one."

She sighed in annoyance and looked away from him to the car in front before turning to him again where before she said anything he said, "No."

"But."

"Maximista," he slightly raised his voice as he glanced at her, "Good things come to those who wait." He insisted while waving his finger at her.

She frustratingly pouted, crossing her arms, "Fine Spinelli." She leaned back in her chair looking out the window hating the fact that he was being secretive, but at the same time loving it because this was just another side to him she didn't know existed, it was as if being his girl friend had given her access to the real him, the him she thought she already knew, but apparently didn't know as well as she thought and that made dating Spinelli an adventure.

-

He glanced at Maxie an hour later where the car was parked in front of the lake at Vista Point. She had fallen asleep about twenty minutes after they left the park and a part of him knew the right thing to do would have been to drive her home, but Spinelli didn't exactly feel like doing the right thing at the moment, he felt like fulfilling a promise he had made to himself a long time ago.

He closed the door as gently as he could where the first thing he did was gasp at the lake, at how pretty it looked with the sky reflected on the still calm water, how it reminded him of home.

He slid his hands into his pockets glancing at the dirt, the ragweed, the docks and even his car as he walked around to the front of it. Everything was richer in front of him, the dirt looked moist, the ragweed was greener, the docks were newer and the car, well there was no comparison between it and his grandfather's. The scene was very different, very different from that night in Oakfield. A night that changed his life forever changed the way he perceived himself to others.

He stared down at the Aston Martin Logo surrounded by the black paint job and panned upwards to the hood of the car where he suddenly saw himself, a teenager ready for the next chapter of his life leaning against the windshield with his hands on the back of his head, resting on the bushy brown hair that was cut shot at the sides, but slicked back at the front, no bangs present.

"_Damian…"_

Spinelli glanced from his former self to the tall, but skinny man with glasses and brown grayish hair, the man known to him as his grandfather, but moreover as the only person who ever truly cared about his wellbeing.

"_Damian?" He glanced away from the stars, "It's getting late." _

"_I know," he continued looking up at the stars, "I wish this moment could last forever."_

"_Don't we all," the old man chuckled looking back up at the dark sky, "But you've got an early flight to New Jersey tomorrow." He leaned up from the windshield touching his grandson's shoulder, "come on." _

_He leaned up from the windshield where he sat on the car next to his grandfather and held his knees, "I'm gonna miss this…" He looked up at his fatherly figure, "I'm gonna miss you."_

"_Damian this isn't goodbye, you're going to go to school become a brilliant rocket scientist…"_

"_Computer scientist," he corrected, "Study of Computer Science is…"_

"_Right," he slowly smiled, always much smarter then me, "Anyways you're going to get a job that you love and that I'm sure will pay more then I make in a lifetime and then you're going to meet a fine lady…" _

"_Gramps…" He rolled his eyes._

"_And you're going to get married, pop out a few munchkins and then get old like me and…"_

"_And sit on a car like this staring up at the world's greatest wonder…" He looked at his watch, "at midnight?"_

_He chuckled, "Well I'm sure by the time you get a car like this, it'll be one of those fancy sports cars and this…" The old man looked down at the hood of the car, "This will be…what's the word I'm looking for…"_

"_Obsolete?"_

"_Yes, obsolete."_

"_Never," he nodded looking away from him, "This car will stand the test of time."_

_The old man laughed patting his grandson on the back, "I'm gonna miss that humor of yours."_

"_Well…I promise you when I get one of these grandpa…"_

"_My grandson the dreamer…" _

"_As I was saying," he looked away from his grandfather with a smirk on his face, "I promise when I get an Aston Martin, the first time I take it out for a drive, that first night," he glanced up at the stars where he decided he wanted to lie back on windshield again, "I'm gonna do exactly what we're doing." _

_He watched his grandson look up at the stars and couldn't help but rejoin him, "Aw…" He rested his hands on his chest, "Staring up at the stars?"_

"_And not thinking about anything," he stared at the sky, "Just me and the stars…" _

_The man slowly nodded like it seemed like a good plan, "Well all I have to say is that I hope you'll have someone to share that night with you." _

"_I will," he glanced at the man, "I'll have you."_

"_I don't know Damian, I'm getting pretty old…"_

"_I mean metaphorically," he smiled, "If you can't be here for us to remember the good old times, then I'll remember for both of us." _

"_I'd like that son," he softly smiled, "I'd like that a lot." _

Spinelli curled his lips trying to prevent himself from muffling a cry and then walked around to the side of the car and stared down at the hood, "A promise is a promise." And like that he climbed onto the hood of the car and gazed up at the stars, remembering for the two of them.

-

She tossed and turned in the chair where her eyes opened for a minute and she realized she wasn't at home.

"Spinelli," she mumbled peeking her eyes open when she saw he wasn't beside her. She curiously looked to see what time it was when she saw a figure leaning against the windshield, sitting on the car, was her Jackal.

She looked into her purse to see on her cell phone that it was 11:30 and then curiously looked back at him wondering what he was doing. She put her hands on the car door opening it while looking at him through the front window until she stepped out and saw him for herself.

Her eyes narrowed in on the man gazing up at the stars, the man who seemed upset looking at them, "Spinelli?"

Tires screeching, shouts of panic and a loud crash into the water made the sound of the car door closing made him jump.

"Sorry," she sincerely looked at him, "I didn't mean to startle you…" She lingered the last word as she saw what looked like tears in his eyes.

"No, it's okay," he cleared the tears from his eyes before looking away from her to clear his throat, "Um…" He looked back at her to see that his somber expression was still with her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he slightly chuckled with tears from his eyes still caught in his throat, "I just…I haven't been able to look up at the stars for five years," he glanced up at the sky, "Five years Maxie, can you believe that? Five years since the last time I looked at them and…" He softly laughed with a deep sigh, "And they still look the same."

She saw the tears roll down his cheeks, his hands wiping them away as he regretfully laughed at the dreaded past, the past that seem to be…haunting.

"I was seventeen, I had graduated a year early from high school and was leaving the next day for Princeton University," he smiled like what an accomplishment that was.

"Princeton?" She knew full well of the college for it was a place Georgie had looked into attending.

"Yup, it was going to be my last night in Oakfield and my grandfather, who I may add had a car by the same brand," Spinelli glanced at the logo, "A Mr. Aston Martin."

"So that's…" She propped her elbows on the car letting her hands rest on her chin, "why you wanted this car," she smiled like it was kind of cool of him to take after his grandfather.

"Yeah," he chuckled before continuing, "So he thought for old time sake we'd go to the lake that he'd been taken me to since I was a toddler and he surprised me with this barbeque, just me and him on top of the mountain looking down at the lake where he taught me how to swim and how to fish…"

She looked at him kind of peculiar because she never really pictured him as the guy that liked to camp until she remembered how much he enjoyed stakeouts which was a very outdoorsy kind of activity.

"I drank well even back then I couldn't hold my licker," he realized like it suddenly dawned on him and then he glanced at her to explain, "I attempted to drink my first beer."

"Oh jeeze," she joked knowing the story was going to be funny.

"Yeah," he laughed, "When I spit it out he quickly took it away from me and said 'good just checking' and I looked at him completely confused and he said 'Now I don't have to worry about you getting drunk in college or becoming an alcoholic."

She laughed while pointing her fingers at him, "I'll remember to have YOU drive us home from any parties we go to."

He softly laughed in agreement before sighing into the next part of the story, the part that was going to push his emotions.

"So when all was said and done, we'd come here," he put his hand on the car, "And we'd lean back on the windshield," he leaned back, "And we stare at the sky for hours…"

"Hours?" She questioned like she didn't understand the point of doing that.

"Yes," he admitted that perhaps it could seem silly.

She looked at him wanting to know more not at all trying to give him the impression that what he did with his grandfather was stupid, it was anything but, it was something she admired, something she wished she had, "That's nice you two hung out like that, that he made time for you."

Spinelli shrugged his shoulders where he became tense, feeling an aching pain in his shoulder, "Ehah…" He leaned up from the windshield moving his hand beyond the jacket to the dark dress shirt rubbing his shoulder.

"Spinelli," she wanted to kiss his tender shoulder, but as she motioned to get on the car he put his hand out for her not to come forward just yet.

"Since…" He paused slightly closing his eyes as he felt the pain in his shoulder becoming agitated, "Since this was probably that last time he and I would hang out for a while," he let go of his shoulder deciding he'd just have to deal with it and lied back down on the windshield where he slowly glanced up at the stars with a somewhat happy sigh, "We talked like we never had before."

She watched as he silently gazed up at the stars showing a range of emotions as that night seemed to reflect in his mind, it slowly began to dawn on her the impact such a night like that had on him and he had yet to tell her how it ended.

"We talked about a lot of things that night Maxie," he glanced at her, "Things that I…" Spinelli slowly leaned up from the windshield casually hugging his knees, "Things that I didn't know we'd never talk about again."

"Spinelli?" She looked at him in concern as she saw him struggle to keep himself together.

He took a deep breath feeling his eyes on fire with redness from the tears he couldn't seem to hold back. It became so unbearable that he ever so gently covered his face with one hand and dangled the other towards her glance hoping she'd reach out and grab it.

It was the first time she had ever seen him, really seen him get emotional over his past, a past that she didn't understand why he felt the need to bring it up now of all times.

"What is it?" She kissed his hand where he slowly and reluctantly revealed his heart broken face, the tears that transcended down his eyes to his trembling lips, "Will you…will you sit with me?"

_It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart_

"Of course," she instantly said quickly pulling herself on the car where she followed his lead and leaned back on the windshield.

She looked down at their hands, placing her other hand on top of theirs and then squeezed his hand, "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"No," he looked down at their hands, "The reason I'm telling you this," he glanced up at her, "Is because we got into an accident and it was bad, real bad."

Spinelli glanced away from her, "All I remember is seeing the cliff and my head hitting the steering wheel so hard that I was too incoherent to stop the car going off the edge."

"Don't put that blame on yourself, you hear?" She could sense it in his voice.

He slowly nodded, "That's why I drive with such caution, that's why the Jackal drove so slow with Stone Cold in the pursuit of Evil Ian."

"Your afraid of getting into another accident?"

He nodded no as he glanced up at her, "I'm afraid of losing another person I care about," he squeezed her hand.

"Your not gonna lose me."

It was as if he didn't exactly hear her, "I didn't just lose my grandfather that night, I lost my grandmother as well and it wasn't like the Jackal expected much from her, she was always cold with him, but she was especially cold to the Jackal after that."

"She blamed you?"

"Never once saw me in the hospital."

"I'm gonna kill her," she looked away from him enraged by the woman she had never met.

He chuckled, "No your not."

"Spinelli!" _Yes I am,_ "She made you feel bad for something that wasn't your fault!"

"Maximista the jackal did not mean to upset you," he glanced down at her that really wasn't the purpose of the story.

"I'm not upset, I just can't believe she would make you feel like that…"

"Well now you know why perhaps she was so hostile to the Jackal when he was trying to escape Stone Cold's capture."

"Um yeah," _duh_ she understood now, "but…" It still doesn't excuse her behavior.

Spinelli sniffled while freeing his face of tears interrupting her becoming obsessive over this, "My grandfather wasn't the only one whose life was tragically cut shot."

Maxie nervously looked up at him wondering if someone else had died, she wondered how much worse the story was about to get.

He was slightly hesitant about telling her this, but he felt like if he didn't tell her then the story would become pointless and he wanted her to know, just what made her different from the rest. "Like the Jackal said earlier, he hit his head and it wasn't just a concussion Maximista," he raised his finger to his head.

"Brain damage?" She thought that's what he wanted her to say, but she could barely believe what he was motioning to her, "Spinelli you're not brain damaged you're a genius," she sympathetically began stroking his hair.

"Damage to the frontal lobes and the temporal lobes of the brain does not cause ones IQ to drop, it causes them well in my case it's why the Jackal jumps between first and third person, why he talks at different rates, why he has difficulty identifying things and people…" He nervously looked at her, "By their real name."

He watched as she wanted to doubt everything he was telling her, but he couldn't let her, not yet, there was more, "Often people with these injuries express changes in personality, mood and socializing with others, I exempla some of those behavioral types."

Maxie watched as he looked up at her wanting her opinion of it all, what she now thought of brain damaged Spinelli, but she didn't once change the way she looked at him, her soft sweet expression stayed the same as it had since the moment she began to really see Spinelli as more than just a computer geek.

"Spinelli if you think this is going to change things between us, it's not," she could see the semi-doubt in his eyes and knew she had to set him straight, "So you're a little damaged, but who isn't? We all struggle with things, we all have our faults and I'm sorry that happened to you, but…" She hugged his arm while her hand began stroking the back of his head, "You're…" She glanced up at him, "You're still the one I want."

He humorously huffed in relief, but at the same time knowing she'd be accepting of him still, he should have always known, "I know," he kissed her hand assuring her that he believed her.

He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket, "When I was in the hospital, you already know that my granny didn't visit me, but neither did anyone else, not like there were a lot of other people, but not her, not friends, not even the girl I loved at the time."

"Loved?" Maxie looked at him surprised almost weary, "Loved? Like our love?"

"No love is greater then ours," he revealed the red box.

She looked at the box and then up at him, "Spinelli…" She was more astonished by the act itself then what was in the box.

"That kind of, I guess rejection that I felt, it changes a person. I was already broken and to have no one there to tell me everything is going to be okay…" He frowned, "I don't think I have ever felt so alone in my entire life, so unwanted so unworthy of love that when you walked into my life and begged of me to find Wise Georgie's killer, when you asked me…"

There was an unsettling tone in her voice as if everything that was once never explained was now suddenly becoming clear, little by little, "Is it so hard to believe someone could love you…"

"And the answer is yes," he honestly looked at her, "It is hard for me to be believe that someone could love me because what I thought I knew about love, what I thought that people cared for me, what I thought the girl next door felt for me, had been mistaken, their absence in my life when I needed them the most made me lose faith and confidence in just about everything and everyone…"

It made sense, but whenever Sam and Jason and even Lulu talked of him, he was so kind and gentle and innocently sweet, he didn't seem like a bitter guy before she knew him, "But you befriended…."

"I didn't," he looked at her remember his first encounters with Stone Cold, he didn't like being controlled even by the goddess, "I did what Stone Cold said out of fear that he would kill me and…the fact that he paid the Jackal so well for his cyber skills and forced him to help Lulu was the reason I stayed."

He looked away from her looking at the nature around him, "Lulu, I think, working with her and seeing that I wasn't the only one feeling the way I felt became that person I sort of needed to help me open up to the world again."

In a way Maxie thought she was the one to have done that, she looked away slightly disappointed.

"But," he knew she was possibly hurt by his words, but little did she know there was a special place of for her.

"It was you, Maximista," he waited for her to look at him and when she slowly gazed up at him with those blue berry eyes of hers he continued, "It was you that showed me what love is."

"I don't know…" She really didn't think it was all her, she didn't deserve such credit.

"When you love someone you stand by them in good times and bad, you defend them even when they've done something horrible, you are there with open arms, you are there for them," he glanced up at her, "Don't you agree?"

"You know I do," she cupped his cheek, "You're been my…" She rubbed her thumb along his tender cheek, "My everything."

He gently set his hand on top of the one that cupped his cheek, "And you are mine."

He opened the red box, "When I woke up, you were there Maxie," he looked up at her that was still staring at the cutest red heart she had ever seen, "You were the one telling me that everything was going to be okay and because of you…I am okay."

"Really?" She asked for she was still terribly worried about his shoulder, whenever she saw him in pain it was as if she was in pain.

He nodded before looking down at the box and motioning to remove the necklace from it, "Whether you were there because you're the Jackal's best friend or you honestly love him as the person you're meant to spend the rest of your life with," he held up the necklace in front of her where she turned away so he could put it on her.

"You were there willing me to get better and to try harder and to be the person that I wasn't sure I could be…" He kissed her shoulder, "Maxie," he whispered into her ear, "That, is love."

She turned to him needing to see his face as he said these beautiful words that left her speechless, "That is a love I have never had and will never have with anyone else." He hopelessly cupped her cheek looking her weak in the eyes as he leaned is eager lips to hers, "It is unique to us and only us," he searched her eyes just like he had that night and then ever so gently pulled her into a kiss.

_Brain damage? I think not, _Maxie said to herself as she gazed back at the man who was too perfect in her eyes to ever think that something like he just described to her could have ever happened to him.

He smiled back at her where he noticed the goose bumps on her skin, "Are you cold?" He motioned to take off his jacket.

"Spinelli," she touched his arm, "I'm not cold."

He looked at her confused, wondering what else could be responsible, "Then what is it?"

She giggled, "Nothing."

"Maximista," he took off his jacket, "It must be something." He offered his jacket once more to her, "Go ahead, I don't need it."

"Spinelli," she humorously looked up at him like it wasn't necessary.

"I want to see how it looks on you," he motioned her to take it where she teasingly smiled at him, "I look good in everything."

He leaned in almost brushing his nose up against hers, "I know you do," he leaned away, "So what do you have to lose?"

She playfully smiled at him putting the jacket on, feeling his warmth in it, which made her giddy, "How do I look?"

By now he was leaning back on the windshield and when she asked for his opinion he looked at her doubtful, "I need a closer look."

Seductive Spinelli was surely getting her hormones a run for their money, "Oh you do?"

He nodded, insisting that the two feet he was from her just wasn't close enough.

"Well," she slowly climbed over him, "Let me give you a better look."

He smiled with pleasure as his Maximista planted herself right on top of him, straddling his legs, "Is this good enough."

"I think my eye sight might have been damaged as well Maximista." It was a cheesy line, he knew it, but she went with it.

"Oh you poor thing," she inched closer to him.

"Yes poor me," he playfully rolled his eyes.

She moved closer almost leaning her chest against his, "This better Mr. Jackal?"

He slightly nodded, "I guess it'll have to do."

"Oh well…" She gently lied her body on top of his, "I don't want to disappoint."

He waited till she rested her chin on his chest before wrapping his arms around her and playfully, but gently switched positions with her, "You couldn't…" He wrapped his hand tighter around her waist as he pressed her hand against the windshield, "If you tried."

She gasped in orgasmic pleasure as he caressed her neck with kisses, "Spinelli…" They weren't even having sex, just simplistic kissing and yet he was driving her wild. She randomly wondered if these were the raging pregnancy hormones Robin was always talking about, was it too early to be experiencing such a sex drive?

"Yes?" He leaned away from her wondering if the car was a little too uncomfortable to be doing this, "Maybe we should be getting back," he looked down at his watch, it was practically midnight, "Yah…" He crawled off of her when he heard her shout "No!"

He quickly jerked his head back surprised by her sudden outburst, "We can continue this in your bed if you like?" But he almost rather not seeing as her father would be home and he'd be horrified if the commissioner sir could hear them or let alone walked in on them doing the deed.

She knew by the time they got home her need to have him right then and there would be gone, but having sex in a car wasn't exactly the most romantic thing ever, "You know what I could really go for right now?"

He sat beside her cautiously eyeing her wondering if it was sex, for if it was, he was most definitely prepared, condoms in his wallet, "What…"

She pulled herself up on the car, leaning her back against the windshield, "Chocolate, I have this craving for chocolate," and she actually did, no joke this wasn't an attempt to distract him, it suddenly popped in her head when she knew sex wasn't exactly an option at the moment.

"Chocolate Maximista?" He looked at her surprised.

"Ye-ah," she nervously said almost feeling stupid now for bringing it up with the look he was giving her.

"Well," he got off the car, "I guess it's expected."

"What do you mean?" She wondered what he was getting at, had she slipped up she wondered. Did he know she might be pregnant? Was that why he was being extraordinarily sweet and amazing?

"Well we haven't had desert yet, I mean you didn't eat anything with Lulu did you?"

"No," she giggled wondering what he was up to.

"Wonderful," he opened the car door and popped the trunk open.

"Spinelli?" She curiously looked at him.

"Stay there, Maximista, your wish is my command." He winked at her as he backed away to the trunk.

She nervously, but in a good way, smiled as she turned her back to him and leaned back on the windshield.

"Now Maximista," he walked around five minutes later with his hands behind his back, "What would you prefer?" He removed one hand with a Hershey kiss in it.

"What's the other option?" She was already amazed at how he pulled a Hershey Kiss out of nowhere, well the trunk wasn't exactly no where, but still, Spinelli was a magician.

He revealed a small white box, "Was Maximista by any chance craving a chocolate covered strawberry?"

She nodded in disbelief, how in the hell did he know these things, "You read my mind."

He excitedly sat on the car opening the box to reveal the most perfectly covered strawberry ever, "Spinelli…" She saw the label on the box, "Godiva chocolate?"

"Only the best for my girl," he slowly picked it up.

"Spinelli you know how expensive…"

"Maximista," he looked up at her, "Nothing is too expensive for you."

She hastily looked at him as he tempted her with the strawberry, "You are…"

"Maxie, open your mouth," he looked at her to stop hesitating even though he figured she was about to compliment him, but he wanted to her to stop talking and allow the strawberry to work wonders on her.

She smirked at him nervously opening her mouth where he excitedly slid a part of it in her mouth and watched as she bit down, giggling.

A piece of chocolate broke from the strawberry making her giggle even more, this was something she had never experience with someone, she had always wanted to and now she had.

He pulled the strawberry away, giving her sometime to enjoy the sweetness in her mouth, "What's the verdict?"

"Best damn strawberry I've ever had," she giggled and he smiled proudly, _victory._

He giggled at the little bit of chocolate in the corner of her mouth and couldn't help but use a kiss to allow him to lick the spec of chocolate off her.

"Spinelli," she purred feeling the sensation of his tongue on her lips.

He leaned away, "Blonde one had a little spec of a…" He pointed to his mouth, "…Chocolate and the Jackal took it upon himself to remove it from your tangy flavored lips."

She slightly blushed, "So you noticed."

"How could I not?" He playfully smiled before looking down at the strawberry in his hands, the chocolate that was melting fast, "Does the blonde one want another taste?" He tempted her and she nodded like 'hells yeah'.

The strawberry was gone in mere seconds and Spinelli had eaten the Hershey kiss to satisfy himself of the desert he didn't really need for that's what his Maximista was for.

The two lied back on the windshield snuggled up with one another, his hand around her waist her head resting on his shoulder, both gazing up at the stars, the stars Maxie had never really looked at until he pointed them out to her.

"Can I ask you something?" She slightly looked up at him.

"Ask away," he said while searching the stars for his favorite constellation.

"Well," she pulled herself up, "If it's too personal just let me know and…"

"Maxie," he looked at her to just get to the point.

"Sorry," she nervously giggled, "Um, I was just wondering what…what caused the accident, cause I can't imagine you being a crazy driver like Johnny and I'm sure your grandfather kept that car in perfect shape so what happened?"

She watched him look at her wondering if she was serious, "Stupid question, forget it."

"It's okay," he looked at her for it really wasn't something to be uptight about, one could even laugh about it, "I only looked away for a mere ten-twenty seconds…"

"Why did you look away?" She wondered if she even had the right to ask such a question.

"My grandfather was saying something to me, something that seemed heartfelt so I looked away to give him the attention he deserved, he didn't tell me not to, the last thing he ever said to me was, "Damian, I'm proud of you, Miriam' my grandmother 'is proud of you and you're parents would be proud of you, we'll always be proud of you."

He looked away from her, "I smiled and by the time we looked back at the road," he nodded in annoyance still of what happened, "…A freaking moose was in the middle of the road…"

"A moose?" Maxie almost wanted to laugh, but she knew it wasn't appropriate.

"I know, what are the chances?" He chuckled, "You can laugh Maximista, it's the most ridiculous thing to ever change a person's life."

"Spinelli," she softly looked at him wishing he would change his attitude towards it, it was and wasn't funny all at once.

"It's true!" He honestly looked at her with a burst of energy, "I've never in my life in the times I've drive up there with him have seen a moose, the only way I can accept what happened is if I laugh about it, I'd think he'd want me to."

"It is bizarre," she glanced up at him where he seemed to already have something else on his mind.

"You really do look good in that," he complimented before wandering his fingers to her arm wanting to feel the leather on her arm.

"Well," she eyed him, "It looks pretty good on you too, maybe even better than me."

"You think?" He playfully replied back.

"Most definitely," she insisted as she leaned over him, "In fact I think you look so good, you should model this in Crimson."

He burst out laughing, "No thanks."

"What?" She looked at him like he was crazy, "Spinelli you are hot stuff in this."

"That may be true, but the Jackal has had enough of women man handling him today," he joked before realizing how that sound, "I mean not you, but these sales ladies…" Her lips crashed into his and he found his tongue a little tied at the moment.

She leaned away wiping her lips, "Now what were you saying about salesladies?"

"Well um…"

"Right," she playfully nodded, "I won't make you model for Crimson as long as you model for me."

He looked at her surprised, but intrigued, "A fashion show for the fashionista?…hmm the Jackal will comply under one condition."

He leaned towards her stopping just short of her lips, "As long," he kissed her cheek, "as I," he kissed her other cheek, "Get a," he kissed her forehead, "Fashion Show."

"I think that can be arranged," she put her hands on his cheeks.

"You think so? Can the Jackal request oh," he glanced up at the sky, "I don't know," he looked back down at her, "A Victoria secret fashion show."

"Spinelli!" She playfully hit him.

"Well I was just asking!" He excitedly looked at her for it was a fantasy he'd been having lately of her, walking around in black lingerie.

"We'll see," she smirked at him.

"Really?" He looked at her not really expecting her to say yes, "I mean I was just…"

"I said we'll see," she insisted while imagining how fun it would be.

He goofily smiled completely surprised when as he sweetly pecked her lips his ears perked up.

She watched as he leaned away, looking almost nervous, like something was wrong, "Spinelli…"

He playfully eyed her with caution as he opened the car door and leaned over the seat to the radio, turning up a tune that he thought he recognized, how he recognized it, he didn't know, but it sounded to him, like the perfect way to end what he thought was the perfect first date.

"Spinelli?" She questioned once more before looking up at their surroundings, were they not safe? Was he grabbing a gun? Was this going to be like the docks?

Her fears quickly vanished as she heard the song get louder and louder. She couldn't help, but softly smile, how appropriate the timing.

"Now," Spinelli emerged putting his hand on the car door and his other on the top of the roof of the car, "I can't remember where I've heard this song, but I have a feeling you would know."

She nodded, "You don't remember?"

He nodded no as his hands fell into his pockets, "I don't, but it sounds familiar."

_Here I stand_

"We heard it yesterday," she looked at him insisting he should know it.

_So inspired_

He walked towards her putting his hand out, "Maybe if Maximista dances with me…The Jackal will remember?"

_To take your hand_

She took his hand slowly getting of the edge of the car where she felt his hand around her waist, "Mr. Jackal."

"Yes Ms. Jones?" He sweetly looked down at her as their bodies moved closer together.

"I think you remember quite perfectly," she insisted like his lapse in memory was an excuse to dance with her.

"I do?" He looked at her, "hmmmm."

"We were on the couch," she looked at him knowing she didn't have to explain, the smirk on his face told her, this was all a ploy, "Watching…"

He interrupted, "Win a date with…" He couldn't remember the actor's name.

"Tad Hamilton," she filled in the blanks and he nodded yes, "And this song played at the very end."

"Yes it did," he congratulated her, "Just as the two best friends realized…"

"They were in love," she slowly, but softly smiled with excitement.

_You touched my heart_

_Now I can breathe_

_You saved my life_

_And still I can't believe you made it happen_

_Made it happen_

_Once again_

"So," he looked away from the hand he was tenderly holding, "How's this for a first date?"

She giggled looking into his eyes, "I think it might be the best first date I've ever had."

He joyously smiled, "Good that was my plan."

"Well it was executed brilliantly," she playfully smiled before taking one glance at his eyes.

He gazed into her blue eyes, her eyes that he could get lost in for hours dreaming of the future he wanted to have with her and then he leaned ever so close to her lips and whispered, "I love you."

_I never thought I could love again_

_I never thought I'd let somebody else in_

_I never thought I could trust and then_

_Here I am in love once again_

When his lips moved away from hers she had tears in her eyes, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she negatively nodded while she moved the hand that had been resting on his shoulder to her face to wipe away the tears, "I'm just happy."

He slowly nodded as she motioned to lean her cheek against his where as soon as it rested comfortably, she closed her eyes where her lips that were just short of his ear whispered, "I love you Spinelli."

He felt her arms wrap around his neck with a tug, with a tightening grip as if she was afraid she was going to lose him, like he'd slip through her fingers. It worried him, emotions like these because it was as if once again, something was going on that she wouldn't tell him, it was as if she knew this was the end of the beginning. He held her in silence, occasionally soothing her with a shush or a peck on the cheek as they slow danced to song after song until she wanted to let go, but Maxie never would let go, no, she wanted to hold onto him as long as she could, even if it meant standing up all night.

--

So originally the ending was supposed to end on a lighter note, the two twirling around and dancing, but I thought it was important to see that although they seem on the same page, they seem so close, they are in fact in some ways, very separated and not as close as they thought they. Spinelli's past was supposed to be revealed to Johnny, in the car scene from last chapter, but I scratched that, I wasn't even going to give Spinelli a past, but his past will come to front in the next couple of chapters (whenever I get to writing them). I thought Spinelli was pretty cute in this chapter, very sweet and I like Maxie as well. There was another scene that was supposed to re include Stacy from the Men's Warehouse dept store, but I decided that including her would make you, the audience feel as if she's an important character and right now her story/involvement with Spinelli is not important.

Next Chapter:

What she thought was the end is only the beginning and she's not thinking about the baby or Spinelli. Someone asks Jason to let Spinelli go, Spinelli will make a terrible misjudgment before karma hits and he's back in the hospital, but this time it's due to some bad meds...Matt Hunter...Who is he really? Maxie misunderstands a moment between Leyla and Spinelli.

So some of that were spoilers, oops, my mind is all over the place, little depressed right now.

The reviews! I love reviews and seeing as i'm a little down right now, a review could really make my day. I'll try to start working on an update, but I've got a lot of work to do.

Thanks for the reviews and support!


	18. A step back, a step forward

A/N: Hey! So I'm super happy about this update, I'm sorry its taken me so long to update, but college is like one thing after another, lol. So this chapter is very telling, I'm proud of it considering it was supposed to include a whole other part, but after much consideration I thought that it was best I separate the scenes. This chapter has a lot of foreshadowing to the future, there are lines in here that are titles of songs which are hints as well. It's like a jigsaw puzzle! As always enjoy and review and I'll try to periodically work on my next update throughout the week.

Chapter 18

It was seven in the morning as Maxie scarcely opened the door to her room with her hand over her mouth having just been sick again in the bathroom. She couldn't remember how long she had been in there, half an hour, forty-five minutes or maybe even an hour, but however long it was she found herself torn as to whether she wanted Spinelli to find her.

She didn't know why exactly she was keeping this bottled up inside. He was her best friend her confident her voice of reason and yet she couldn't tell him their lives were about to be turned upside down? That everyday a little piece of her and a little piece of him was growing a healthy beautiful baby? She couldn't tell him that? She couldn't tell him the most important thing happening in his life right now?

She poked her head in the dim lit room expecting to see his bear chest barely covered by the sheets and his hand grazing the empty space that was her side of the bed, but as she looked closer he wasn't cuddled up with a pillow, he wasn't even in the room. On a morning where she hadn't abruptly woken up to feelings of nausea followed by vomiting, she probably would have searched the house for him, but as she quietly turned to close the door, she wanted to be alone, she wanted that privacy so much that she was relieved he wasn't there waiting for her.

Walking to her dresser she looked at herself in the mirror taking a deep breath as she ran her hand through her blonde curls where she suddenly felt like crying. Of course she wanted to tell him, everything in her was telling her to do so. She closed her eyes feeling the tears on their way as she began to recall the day before yesterday, their conversation about the possibility of them being parents, how panicked he was yet willing to stand up and take charge of the situation. It was comforting in that retrospect to know she could rely on him. Rely on him to be the responsible male who doesn't walk out when he's needed, who stays and knowing him, the man she trusted more than herself at times, he would dedicate himself to her and the baby just as he said he would. He would be there every step of the way, he would take care of them for the rest of their lives with whatever illegal amounts of money he had, he would do right by her, all she had to do was allow him to give her the fairytale ending she didn't think was possible.

Maxie whimpered as her hand covered her eyes feeling the warm wetness of tears that shed hope yet resentment at the same time. Without a moments notice her other hand fell to her hip as she felt herself breaking down further, wishing that he would walk in on her right now and see the state that she was in and some how figure it out, figure it out like he had the other day. Sniffling, she knew it would never happen, she knew that as long as she continued to hide all her symptoms that he'd never know it was still an issue.

She wiped the tears from her eyes where her calendar caught her attention and she sadly tilted her head to the right, crossing her arms before narrowing in on the date. It overwhelmed her thinking about that late afternoon, it made her so emotional that she felt the need to touch the necklace that was still around her neck, the heart that as her fingers grasped was slowly bringing her a glimmer of hope. She walked over to the calendar beginning to count the days again only realizing that in the chaos of her conversation with Lulu yesterday that she was a lot closer to being regretfully four weeks pregnant then she thought, Tuesday not Thursday would mark the day that she had stupidly gone to him thinking he could help her, he sure helped her out alright.

She honestly cursed herself for thinking it that way for looking at that night with regret because she certainly couldn't regret a night that seemed so right. There was just no way she could think about it as a mistake and the thought of him ever thinking that she thought it was, broke her heart. Taking her hand off the necklace, she backed away from the calendar to the mirror taking another deep breath as the tears in her throat disappeared.

She sighed wanting more time, more time on her own to deal with this, to decide for herself what she wanted before telling him and ultimately feeling as pressured as perhaps Lulu felt when Dillon told her he wanted the baby. Spinelli would want this baby and she, she was about seventy-five percent sure she'd didn't, but with everyday that passed that percentage seemed fluctuate up and then down, becoming an ongoing problem that wouldn't be solved until he knew. A part of her greatly wanted to seek his help, but being more than just friends, being together, him being the father and the man she loved made this complicated, complicated enough to ruin everything she had worked so hard for.

Leaning her hands on the dresser, she looked up at the mirror taking in how she looked. How four weeks had turned her into a nervous wreck, had changed her body, had intensified her sex drive which wasn't exactly a downer, but it had overwhelmed her emotions; she only began to think what 9 months would do.

She saw the orange blossom body splash on the counter and decided to lightly spray it on her even though she had cleaned herself up in the bathroom; brushed her teeth, washed her face, sprayed all the perfume bottles ten times until she almost gave herself a head ache with the over powering smells.

Putting the bottle down she could feel herself becoming exhausted and feeling the need to rest her hands along the wooden edges of the dresser as she found herself wanting to drift back to the bed. She opened her eyes feeling like she might actually have enough energy to make it back to the bed when she jumped at Spinelli bursting through the door wearing a white Hanes t-shirt, plaid boxers and reading glasses, obviously he had been working.

Before Spinelli could even say good morning, hi or hello, Maxie had swiftly turned to him yelling, "God Spinelli!" And then leaned her back against the dresser crossing her arms, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

He was aghast, he knew he had been a little loud opening the door, but Maxie was an early riser, he expected her to be up despite the fact that she was zonked out when he carried her to bed last night.

"I'm sss-or-sorry," he stuttered out, maybe he should just drive to see Jason instead of contacting him through his phone that she still had.

The somberness in his voice made her realize just how much she hurt him by her sudden snapping. She never intended to yell at him, but that's exactly what had happened, "Spin I'm…"

But by the time she tried to apologize he had remembered why he had come up here, "Where's my phone?" His patience to accept an apology that took to long to make wore thin, he really didn't care for an apology because he frankly had more important things on his mind, like the information he just discovered on Karpov that required Jason's immediate attention.

She leaned off the dresser to cross her arms in annoyance of how he just ignored her sincere apology, "I don't know."

He grinned not amused, "Very funny Maximista," he walked passed her to his bag which was near a pile of clothes she had worn from the past couple of days.

She faced the dresser, spreading her hands along it and began watching him urgently look for it.

"Where is it?" He asked agitated after finishing his search through the pile of clothes, "Where is it?!"

"Why?" She raised her voice huffing in disbelief at the way he was so eager to contact Jason so he could give him orders to conduct more dangerous business, "Almost dying in my arms wasn't enough for you?"

He slowly stopped what he was doing and glanced up at her sincerely looking at her with concern and worry that the shooting on the docks was still with her, "Alright." He sighed getting off his knees where she knew he was going to walk towards her and try to get her to talk to him.

He gently put his hands on her arms trying to get her to warm up to him before cupping her cheek with his right hand, "What's wrong?" He softly whispered while trying to look into her gaze.

_Everything,_ "Nothing," she shook her head trying to show no tears his way, "I'm just tired and…" She stopped talking as he gently removed his hand from her cheek.

"Where's my phone Maxie?" He said with dread, looking away from her in almost disappointed at the way she refused to open up to him.

She wiped the few free falling tears from her eyes before crossing her arms wising he could drop this phone business, "Can you just forget about Jason right now?"

"Can I?" He looked at her as if it was up to her.

She looked at him confused, "Spinelli can we just focus on us?" She could feel herself on the brink of telling him if he'd just stop being difficult.

"I'd like to," he frowned before backing away to his bag.

"Spinelli," she said with immediate hurt at the distance he was putting between them.

He turned away from the pile of clothes seeing a pair of jeans he hadn't checked before, but that too proved to be pointless. He angrily set his hands on his hips and looked up at her, "This is not a game, give it to me."

"Give it to you?" She replied with attitude not at all liking his tone.

They stared at each other, the animosity growing between them to the point where Spinelli began to get a little insecure and withdrew his stance, "Maximista," he approached her gently, hating that he was having to suck up to her, "I believe I've earned my phone privileges."

"Oh," she gasped unbelievably, slowly walking towards him on a destructive path, "So that's why you took me to the concert and became my dad's best friend and took me to Vista Point? Just to get your phone back?"

He huffed in aw at what she just said wondering where this was coming from, "Are you seriously asking me that?"

She knew how it sounded the minute she said it, but couldn't find the words to take it back.

He nodded in disappointment when she said nothing, "Wow," he was slightly speechless feeling like his tongue was in the back of his throat. How walking into the room at the wrong time and place had set off a stack of dominoes leading up to what he felt was becoming their breakup.

"Here I thought I had done something nice for you because I wanted to thank you for being the most amazing person I've ever met, but I guess not," he looked away from her bending down to his bag to put his jeans on.

"What are you doing?" She began to panic.

He buttoned his jeans before checking his back pocket for his wallet and keys where he looked up at her as she panted, "Spinelli you're not…" Leaving? She feared, god what had she done.

He bent down to the floor grabbing his clothes that were thrown over a chair in front of him and then grabbed his leather jacket.

"Spinelli," she tried to reason with him.

With the jacket in his hand he turned to the bag getting ready to zip it up when he saw one of the pregnancy tests he had bought the other day.

He glanced up at her with a frown that was more of an angry stare still very much hurting from her words that seemed to lack sensitivity and then disappointedly looked away before rubbing his shoulder that seemed extra agitated today.

"Spinelli you're in pain," she sincerely looked at him while sniffling. She wanted to help him, but was afraid how he would react to her help, what he would say to her if she inched closer to him.

He stiffened his expression removing his hand from his shoulder where he tossed his jacket on the bed and reached his hand into the duffle bag.

"You know," he looked up at her with sad eyes before glancing down at his hands.

She eyed the box with fear as she felt her face getting red yet paler by the second.

He twirled the box around with his fingers before getting up from his knees and placing the bag on the bed. He stood at the front of the bed looking at the box in his hand thinking of what to say and then remembered what he read in his investigation of "pregnancy".

"At least," he paused slowly looking up at her having difficulty getting his thoughts out, "At least if you were pregnant, I would be able to understand why you're pushing me away…"

She squinted her face as if he was wrong, she wasn't trying to push him away, she needed him more then ever.

"From what I read," he looked at the box gently hitting it against his hand while he spoke with uneasiness, "Women get all moody and hormonal and," he softly smiled for a brief second imagining her acting that way towards him, he chuckled as his thoughts wandered into what would never be.

He looked up at her expecting to see the same nervous smile that he knew he had on his face, how two days ago could have changed everything, "Well…" He changed his thoughts as the only emotion on her face was discomfort, displeasure of the subject as if even thinking about it was torturous.

She watched his eyes sadly look away knowing that was her opening and she blew it. She had the perfect chance to explain that she was one of those women who five minutes ago was having a hormonal mood swing.

"Anyway," he set the box on the bed, "At least that would explain why I'm being punished, but then again," he took his bag by the handles and walked towards her where he came to a stop.

"Maybe you never really forgave me," he knew it was too good to be true, he had physically hurt her the other day, not to mention called her things, how could someone get over that? Music, jewelry and chocolate don't fix that.

She looked him in the eyes like how dare he think she still held that against him, "Spinelli."

"It's okay," he softly said to her, "I get it, I do." His insides were trembling while his appearance reflected Jesse James, the tough guy who wasn't about to let his deepest darkest fear show through, he was already weak physically, he couldn't mentally be weak as well.

"And," he paused having to clench his jaw from letting his emotions slip, "When you think you can trust me again, I'll be here, I'll be waiting."

Just as he turned away from her she dropped her shoulders in disbelief, "Well," she whined having to pause her words as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Where are you going?" She looked at the back of his head feeling as if nowhere else would be right for him.

He couldn't face her, _some hero _he thought to himself, _coward was more like it._ "It doesn't really matter Maxie," and it didn't. In fact it was a stupid question which he knew in some way she didn't exactly mean it so point blank, but the truth was that if she needed to find him, she'd find him and of course no where else but Stone Cold's.

She rolled her eyes placing her hands on her hips, "Yes it does." She raised her right hand to wipe away her tears as she walked around him.

Standing in front of him she looked up at his eyes wishing they would look at her, "Yes…" She moved closer, "It." She cupped his cheek, "Does."

She slowly brought his attention on her seeing the reluctance in his eyes as if looking at those blue eyes of hers would turn him to stone. It was that kind of reaction that killed her. He never looked so angry with her then he did right now, more angry at her then the day she left after he asked her to stay, that fateful day had that changed them forever, changed them more than when they came together as one.

"It matters to me," she swallowed her tears before slowly placing her other hand on his chest, "It matters to me and I honestly don't think Jason can't take care of you the way I can."

He stubbornly frowned unable to keep himself from looking at her, but still had control over his speech.

"You know I'm right," she attempted to smile, "You know Jason would just make you some soup and then give you some ice cold water to match his Stone Cold personality."

He chirped a laugh, which warmed her cheeks, "Spinelli," she light heartedly said his name, "Put the bag down."

He wished he could do that, he wished that this tender moment could be enough, but he looked away unable to drop the bag from his rod iron hand.

She slid her hand from his cheek to rest beside the other hand on his chest, "I'm asking you to stay."

She moved her hands on his chest to the hand that was gripping his bag, "Your not going anywhere." She took the straps from his hands that gave up without much of a fight and then plopped the bag on the bed.

He silently grunted at the weak defense he put up, how she swiftly took his bag from him he didn't know, she always had this power over him, he loved it and hated it equally.

She turned to see he was still uncomfortable to be around her perhaps even mad still, but as she stopped in front of him and began putting her arms around his waist, she hoped he would embrace her; accept her apology.

"Spinelli say something," it wasn't enough that he let her hug him, she needed to hear something out of his mouth, even if it wasn't warm hearted.

When he didn't say anything in return she grew annoyed for she was groveling for forgiveness over something that wasn't even that big of a deal, "Fine!" She frustratingly walked away from him to her dresser pulling open one of the draws and grabbing his phone.

"Here!" She threw the phone at his chest where he flinched at how tenderly it hit the nipple of his breast.

She crossed her arms in a tantrum, "Make your stupid phone call, I'm going to take a shower!" She sprinted out of the room.

"Maxie!" He shouted wanting to drop all of this and give her the attention she wanted, but he heard the bathroom door slam in return and Spinelli sighed folding his hands over his face, "The blonde one is over loading the Jackal's hard drive." He closed his eyes wondering what the hell that was that just stormed away from, what happened to his Maximista?

She leaned on the door with her hand resting on her cheek as her fingers wiped away the tears before running through her blonde curls, "That was too close." She put her hands on her hips where she found herself looking down at her tummy, "You are already like me, causing trouble."

She giggled at how stupid this was, talking to a possible baby that's probably the size of a peanut, "Well I won't have it missy or…young man," she felt even stupider, pregnant women do become crazy, "I'm not going to hurt your father over you."

Spinelli looked down at the phone in his hand knowing now was the time to make his phone call while Maxie was in the shower. But before walking downstairs to place the most desired call, he took his jacket off and tossed it unintentionally next to the pregnancy test where he suddenly became fixated on the box as if the second his jacket brushed up against the box it was a sign. He walked closer to the bed, sliding his phone into his pocket and picked up the box where as he began to read the words, images of his computer screen from everything he read in the thirty minutes he was alone before she woke up that afternoon, flashed in his head. His photographic memory highlighted different words this time than it had before, ignoring the symptoms of tiredness, lightheadedness and vomiting and instead bolded **Mood Swings.**

He looked at the doorway and then walked to the door where he looked down the hall to the bathroom and then glanced back down at the box. He felt his breathing increase uncomfortably as the idea began running through his mind again, starting with that conversation they had.

"_But I thought about it, you know? When we were in your room at the hospital arguing last week, I noticed that morning that I was late and I'm never late. And I was so frantic trying to see if I had taken my pill that night or what that I lost track of time and that's why I was late to your appointment," she bit her tongue at the using the word three times, "And when I almost passed out…It only convince me more that I…that I might be pregnant."_

"_I knew…I knew there was something bothering you."_

Spinelli turned his glance away from the doorway grinding his teeth.

"_Spinelli I wanted to tell you," her lip quivered becoming worried that he would get angry with her, "I did, I really did."_

_He saw the frightful tears in her eyes, this wasn't worth crying about, "Oh Maxie," he pulled her into a hug where she comfortably rested her cheek on chest, "Why didn't you tell me?" He weakly whined looking down at her wondering why she kept something so important from him._

"_I wanted to," she leaned away looking up at him wiping her eyes, "But you had so much on your mind and you seemed to excited about starting your physical therapy that I…I didn't want to trouble you."_

"_Trouble me?" He frowned slightly rolling his eyes and then glanced back down at her, "Maxie…" He looked away frustrated._

"_Spinelli I'm sorry," she bit her lip wanting him to look at her, "I just wanted you to focus on getting better, not worrying about some baby that may or may not exist."_

_She looked down at their hands that were playfully intertwined with each other, "And then as soon as I got home that night I…I saw that it had come and that there was no need to worry, so I just figured there was no need to tell you."_

"_But," he annoyingly looked back at her, "You shouldn't have had to think about all that on your own, it's too much for one person to handle, I could have…"_

"_You did enough," she touched his cheek, "When you figured out a way to forgive me for the way I was taking everything out on you, the way you were being so nice about it all, you helped me."_

_He frowned feeling like he hadn't considering that day he had practically questioned their friendship, "Well I still think you should have told me and the next time you're worried about something just tell me what it is so we can figure it out together."_

He angrily stared down at the box, his last words repeating in his mind, _the next time you're worried about something just tell me what it is so we can figure it out together. _He looked up from the box enraged at what seemed like a promise between them having never been made. He threw the box down at the bed where it skidded off onto the floor and instinctively ran his hands through his hair when he cringed at an aching pain that he had never quite experienced before.

He ignored the pain for he knew it was punishment for not listening to Mickey when he said _"Now don't go being foolish and carrying that pretty girl of yours up to bed to do god knows what to her, don't apply any pressure if possible to it." _

But Spinelli didn't exactly have a choice, not that first time anyway for Maxie had literally passed out in front of him and he couldn't just drag her to the couch. The second and third time she was too tired to walk upstairs so he happily scooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed. Innocent little acts that he didn't care if they caused him any pain because he loved seeing that peaceful sleeping smile of hers every time he held her close. Pain had been the farthest thing on his mind until now, but even so, he couldn't tell her, he couldn't tell her now that this had come up again.

His hands slowly setting on his hips he stared at the box on the ground trying to go over the past couple of days for it seemed to him like she had been doing a lot better since their conversation two days ago. She was fine all day yesterday until they danced when it seemed she had gotten a little emotional, this morning was definitely out of the ordinary matching similarly to the scene in the hospital. All of which could be categorized as "mood swings", but besides that all her other symptoms had disappeared as if it was just dehydration or a small touch of the flu.

"_But are you sure?" He looked at her the way all guys look at their girl friends when a pregnancy scare arises needing to know for sure._

"_Yes," she smiled with a giggle, "Spinelli? Don't you think I would know if I was pregnant? I only faked a pregnancy like two years ago."_

Spinelli sighed not knowing what to do. If he brought it up again she might really get mad at him more so than just now, but then again, he remembered how she kept quiet about it the first time to avoid worrying him while he was recovering. This was another reason he couldn't lead on that he was in more pain then he had been in a while, she'd keep quiet just to make his life as stress free as possible, but what she didn't understand was that her not telling him what was going on stressed him out. Spinelli rolled his eyes at the ways they tried to protect each other, the lies they'd tell each other just so the other can be happy, sometimes he wondered if it was the right thing to do for he felt more conflicted then ever. He found himself needing to take a step back from the issue. He knew he wouldn't be able to decide in five minutes what he wanted to do and he had important phone calls to make that he didn't want do in front of Maxie so he walked out of the room and downstairs and tried to forget what he just realized.

He walked into the kitchen to get himself a bottle of water as he waited for Jason to pick up his phone, "Spinelli!" Jason joyously said his name in his office, "How are you doing?"

"Go-Good," he stuttered.

"What's wrong?" Jason huffed wondering what could make Spinelli sad.

"Nothing Stone Cold er I have some information," Spinelli said before spending the next twenty minutes pacing around the kitchen explaining everything he found with a few short pauses here and there to drink the water that he never replaced with orange soda.

Jason nodded at the last bit of information that he found and after encouraging him to continue the hut, he curiously asked, "So when do you think you can come back-to work?"

Spinelli eagerly smiled, how he missed his days with Jason, how he longed for some male bonding, "Um I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and my usual training sessions with Mickey, but I could come in the afternoon, I think Maximista is going back to work anyways and so I could probably work until five."

Jason softly smiled, he had to admit he missed having the rambunctious kid rambling in his office, "Speaking of Maxie, how's she taking care of you?"

Spinelli was mute, he wasn't exactly sure what to say for he enjoyed almost every moment here except this morning, "Uhhhhh."

"That well?" Jason joked, "Well how did last night go?"

"Last night?" Spinelli was a little confused for he didn't tell Jason that he had asked Maxie out on their first date and that she had accepted, Jason still didn't even know they were officially together.

"Yeah I saw you on TV wearing a jacket that looked just like mine," Jason smirked, "And you're on the front cover of the Port Charles Herald this morning looking dashing in an Aston Martin."

"I can explain Stone Cold," Spinelli knew he'd have questions like if he even know how to drive it.

"No need, Claudia paid me a visit and explained the nice fortune she left you, Bernie is handling the transactions and when you come by tomorrow we'll get it all set up for you."

"Wow," Spinelli grinned, Stone Cold was being cool.

"Yeah no problem, but as I was saying," Jason looked down at the papers, "The Port Charles Herald has you on the front page with your car, The Port Charles Post has you on stage and The Port Charles Times has snapped a photo of you and Maxie looking pretty cozy…"

"Stone Cold…" Spinelli goofily smiled while blushing.

"Hey, I'm just making an observation," Jason laughed feeling like he was teasing a sibling.

"The Jackal senses his Master is happy?" Spinelli sweetly smiled.

"You bet I am, seeing you happy makes me forget that I'm so unhappy not being with my family," Jason softly frowned putting down the newspaper taking a glance at the photo he framed of Jake and Elizabeth, "Spinelli I can't think of anyone else who deserves to be happy, but you."

"Stone Cold," Spinelli softly smiled, "But you…"

"Spinelli," Jason wished he hadn't mentioned "his" family, "Anyway I'm so overjoyed for you that I've sent these newspapers to Mac's house along with your favorites from Kelly's which should be arriving any minute…" Jason paused hearing the doorbell, "Now."

Spinelli walked out of the kitchen to see Mike standing outside, "Well thank you Stone Cold."

"No problem, I'll see you later Spinelli, enjoy and take it easy, good job with the information you found today, let me know if you find anything else."

"I assure you I will," Spinelli giddily hung up and opened the door to see Mike grinning, "SPINELLI!"

"Father of Mr. Corinthos Sir!" Spinelli walked out to hug him.

"Oh Spinelli! You were great last night!" Mike leaned out of the hug, "Where's Maxie?"

"Eh she's upstairs taking a shower, but um, why don't you bring that stuff into the kitchen and we'll continue talking," he looked down at the bags offering to take one, but Mike nodded like he could handle it.

Spinelli led Mike into the kitchen where Mike set down the bags, "I brought Maxie's favorites, muffins, chocolate and blue berry," he took the containers out and showed Spinelli what he got for him, "Eggs, pancakes, sausages for you, but there's enough here for both of you to pick and choose."

"Thank you," Spinelli said again feeling really lucky to have such good friends, Jason and Mike.

"No problem, you want me to set this stuff out for you," Mike motioned to the cabinets.

"It's okay, I'm not sure if Maxie will want to eat right away, and I've got to jump in the shower, but thanks for bringing it over, it was really nice of you."

"Hey it's the least I could do, you guys are my favorite customers," Mike slid his hands into his pockets leaning away from the food, "So how are you doing?"

"Okay," Spinelli slowly nodded feeling like the second Mike asked about his shoulder it began to hurt, "I mean I wish I could take something a little stronger for the pain, the pills are like Tylenol only the Tylenol works." He joked.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Mike frowned crossing his arms, "But just be sure you don't lose yourself to it, to the pain you know?"

_Too late_, "Yeah I know, but the physical therapy is helping."

"That's good, how's Maxie handling it?" Mike remembered talking to Jason the other day and he mentioned in their private chat, Spinelli going off on her.

"She's been great, really great," Spinelli crossed his arms softly smiling, "I couldn't ask for a better person to support me through all this."

Spinelli walked to the entrance of the kitchen having no idea who was listening in, "She's so much stronger then me Mike," Spinelli looked up at him, "So much braver then me."

Maxie softly smiled in her white robe as she leaned against the outside wall with her arms crossed.

"It's like, when I enter that gym, it's like I'm entering this long tunnel, like in Doom, and every session I'm one step closer to the end of it, to her and every time I'm in pain, I think of her and I continue. Every time I want to quit, I hear her voice. Every time I want to walk away, I know I'd be walking away from her and every time I want to fail, I know I'd be failing her."

Spinelli looked up at Mike, "She's what's keeping me in this. I wouldn't be anything without her. She believes in me when I don't, gives me the confidence…she's kind and gentle, the most beautiful goddess of them all and…If I had to describe what she means to me in one word, it's everything."

Mike softly laughed, "Sounds like you're ready to marry this girl."

Spinelli laughed, "She could be the one."

"Could be?" Mike walked towards him, "I swear you just recited your vows to me."

"Well," Spinelli blushed as they walked out of the kitchen where Maxie hid herself, "I think as of right now it is but a dream."

"A pleasant one," Mike added.

"Yes, but I promise if that ever happens, if I ever tame the blonde one's heart, you'll be the first one to know, right after I tell Stone Cold."

Mike nodded while smirking a little laugh, "I wouldn't expect anything less of you," he turned to Spinelli who had his back to the living room and stairs, unable to see Maxie creeping back up them, "Well Spinelli take care."

"Sure thing, and how's the business doing at Kelly's?" Spinelli randomly thought.

"Better then ever, someone leaked that it's your favorite place to go to and now everyone wants to eat where the famous Damian Spinelli eats at," Mike grinned like it was the best news ever, "And we're even going to create a new special after you."

"Mwah?" Spinelli placed his hand on his chest, completely mystified.

"Yeah, I get so many people asking what does Spinelli order and so we decided to add the "Nectar of the Gods" Special."

Spinelli loved the name, "And this special includes…"

"Well," Mike clasped his hands together, "Obviously orange soda, but barbeque chips and a grilled cheese sandwich."

"You have made the jackal proud, perhaps he'll pop in this week to have his special," Spinelli teased.

"Oh Spinelli," Mike laughed backing into the doorway, "I've got to go, but tell Maxie I said hi."

"I will, thanks Mike."

"Hey! You called me Mike!" He wanted to jump into the air.

"Yeah it's this weird new habit of the Jackal's," Spinelli crossed his arms, "See you later."

"Bye Spinelli," Mike crawled into his truck and pulled out of the driveway.

Spinelli closed the door and then walked into the living room where he turned his laptop to sleep mode putting the security lock on it and then walked upstairs to see if Maxie was done taking her shower.

Hearing the hair dryer turn on he nodded knowing he had the water now and walked down stairs to at first go to his car and grab an outfit for him to wear and then walk into the bathroom down stairs.

Once the steam from the hot water built up in the room, Spinelli undressed himself and then walked into the shower instantly feeling a powerful sting. Closing his eyes, he pressed his hand against the walls, rapidly breathing at the heat that oddly enough felt good as much as it hurt. After five minutes of rotating his shoulders and arms, he felt relaxed enough to wash his hair and sooth his body with the glorious blue soap that he knew Maxie must have picked out from one of those fancy Bath and Body Works shops. Turning the water to ice cold, he set the soap down and stood in the stall letting the water somberly run down his face. Grabbing a regrettably pink towel he wrapped it around his waist and then leaned his hands along the sink and waited for the fog to go away.

He looked up at the mirror after the moist had evaporated and then glanced down at the sink that was now half filled with water and cupped his hand to splash water on his face and back. He didn't know why he was doing this, he wasn't hot like he needed to cool down, he felt okay for the most part, waking up with a cold sweat this morning wasn't exactly unheard of for him, he had done it the hospital during a bad dream that usually involved the shooting on the docks ending in her life. He had nothing to feel gloomy about, even the brink of possible fatherhood wasn't a reason to be down, a baby is a miracle, one of medicines greatest solved mysteries. Then there was the fact that he was famous. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be a celebrity or have people wanting to be his friend or have a flock of girls wanting his autograph, what had he done that was worth the appraisal? He saved a woman, people are saved all the time and yet none of them get the same recognition. Call it survivor's guilt, call it depression or call it just a bad day, but Spinelli felt off, he felt like Maverick.

He looked back up at the mirror and removed the towel from his waist and quickly dried his hair and his arms and back when it hit him. He turned to the bag that was on the toilet seat cover and suddenly noticed in the corner of his eye, a redness near the scarring of his shoulder surgery. He walked closer to the mirror ignoring the bruises that were still apparent from the dislocation of his shoulder and focused more on the skin that looked tender as if not as strong as the skin around it. Although this raised his concern he felt confident that whatever it was could wait until tomorrow morning, the wound had not opened, there was no puss or a scab or anything to suggest something might be seriously wrong so with that said he decided to ignore it for now and get dressed.

Wearing a white buttoned down shirt over his black Hanes T-shirt and tan brown shorts, he thought he looked kind of cool. Not as cool as last night, but pretty close for an outfit to be worn during the day. He was beginning to look his own age, maybe it wasn't exactly him, but he looked like a twenty-two year old versus a sixteen year old computer geek thus dressing for adult hood.

He combed his wet hair trying to get rid of the bangs that he knew she probably wouldn't touch today or maybe she would, he had no idea what kind of mood she would be in, but he promised himself he'd welcome her attitude now with open arms. Obviously if she was pregnant he couldn't get mad at her for that and if it was something else, well then he'd just do his best to get through this day and hope tomorrow would be better.

He straightened up the bathroom and then walked out to the couch where he booted up his computer continued to follow the scent of Andrew Karpov who took an early flight from Russia to Port Charles yesterday morning. Jason had told him to find out as much as he could on his whereabouts and if possible find out whom he was working with so they could watch him closely; the Jackal was on the mission…for about ten minutes.

Maxie quietly came up from behind him, in her white cotton rob with her hair pinned up, "Hey," she softly kissed his cheek before wrapping her arms around neck.

"I see the sweet blonde one has come out to play," he touched her hands.

She softly smiled at the way he embraced her, "I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's forgotten," he looked at the pretty face leaning over his shoulder.

"Thank you," she softly smiled before briefly closing her eyes desperately needing them to connect right now, to go back to being the way they were.

He felt her lips gently kiss his soft shaven cheek and gently took her hand in his and glanced up at her, "Your welcome." He delicately kissed her hand.

She smiled back at him, both casting their apologies through their eyes that longed for them to be close again. She removed her hands from his neck and joined him on the couch where she watched Spinelli turn his focus back onto the computer.

"Just a second Maximista," Spinelli quickly set up his computer to fall asleep, "No more work for the rest of the day," he closed his laptop and turned to her, "And," he reached into his pocket, "I'm turning my phone off." He set it next to his laptop before looking up at her, "And you and I are going to do whatever you want to do today."

She sweetly looked at him noticing he fixed his bangs out of his hair today which compelled her to fix that.

"Maximista wants to play with my bangs," he formed a small smile, happy that she was becoming more like her old self and less the like the Bad Blonde One.

She smiled silly as she tried to style them in front where a minutes later she leaned away in approval, "Just the way I like them."

He appreciatively grinned, "As I was saying..."

"Spinelli," she interrupted with a small whine as if he didn't have to dedicate the entire day to her, "You don't have to..."

"No," he nodded for her not to convince him otherwise, "There is breakfast in the kitchen, compliments of Mike where you will see that we were quite a big hit with The Port Charles Times, they've rumored us as this summers hottest couple."

"No they didn't," she giggled.

"Alright I made that up, but we did make the front page and I haven't read the article so we might have been spoiled to be this super hot sexy couple like um…" He wished he had an example of someone famous, but he didn't no any other celebrities besides Kate Howard.

She silently laughed to herself at the way he struggled to given an example, "Like what? Bragelina? Tomkat?"

"Yeah!" He said having no idea who those people were, but he pretended like she turned the light bulb on, "They'll call us Spinmax or Spixie," he grinned thinking the whole thing was stupid, but knowing she would get a kick out of it.

"Have you had an orange soda today?" She looked at him as if he must have some sugar in him.

He goofily smiled knowing she'd be surprised, "No the Jackal has not had his tangy fix today."

"Well that's just wrong because you need an orange soda to function normally," she joked taking his hand in hers, "You said Mike brought by breakfast?"

"Yes I did, compliments of Stone Cold too," he looked at her not to be so angry at Jason for making him work.

"Oh, well that was nice of him." She awkwardly smiled not knowing how to show her gratitude to a man she hadn't always gotten along with.

"Yeah, it was," he smiled where as soon as she looked up at him he tried to convince her that Jason wasn't the enemy, "Stone Cold does care about me Maxie and he cares about you too," he insisted, "He wants us to be happy."

"He wants you to be happy," she looked at him feeling Jason didn't exactly care about her feelings.

Spinelli nodded in disagreement, "He wants you to be happy too and if it happens to be with his right hand man, his partner in...er crime then he's not going to object even though your father is the police commissioner."

"You have to ask Jason for permission on who you can date?" She teased and he slowly nodded, "No I don't, but he's objected before to other…girls."

"What other girls," she playfully, but cautiously eyed him.

"Oh girls you don't need to worry about Maximista, Angel of Mercy Jolene is in a coma and the women at Jakes were either interested in my wallet or just weren't interested in the Jackal or any other male in the bar…"

Maxie giggled, "That's quite a list in such a short time."

"Is Maximista jealous?" Spinelli playfully flirted back.

"Maybe," she slowly smiled.

"Well I assure you that you have nothing to be jealous of, you aren't interested in my wallet and you're not trying to kill me so I think you're pretty safe with Stone Cold."

"How can you be so sure?" She wished she had his faith in Jason, but something was telling her that Jason would always be hanging over their hands.

"Because," he raised her hand to his lips, caressing it, "Stone Cold knows you only like me for one thing."

"And what would that be?" She flirted back.

He stared at her purposely-staging suspense in the air before revealing with a goofy smile, "My cyber skills."

Maxie laughed playfully hitting his chest, "Spinelli!"

He leaned in playfully kissing her cheek before whispering in her ear, "Come on," he leaned away taking her hand, "Enough serious talk, I think there's a chocolate muffin in there with your name on it." He got off the couch turning his back to her as his hands innocently pulled her from behind.

She was just about to get up from the couch when she felt a little dizzy, "Um…" She sat back down where he turned to her, "Yes?"

"Why don't I stay here, perhaps put a movie in and you bring us something we can both munch on," she smiled for besides wanting to avoid passing out in his arms she wanted a chance to look up Fandango on his computer and suggest they go to a movie tonight.

"Alrighty," he smiled.

"Great and by the way, great choice in clothes this morning," she smirked.

"Why thank you," he grinned.

"But," she nervously looked at him, "If I would make one change."

"Let me guess, you'd rather I have nothing on?" He assumed this was going to be a sexual.

She chuckled, "Spinelli take off the white shirt." She crossed her arms leaning back on the pillows.

"You do not approve of the white against the black?" He asked as he slowly took the shirt off.

"Maybe, just take it off," she motioned him to continue.

"Okay," he took it off tossing it in front of her.

She playfully caught his shirt, "Twirl around."

Spinelli rolled his eyes, "The Jackal is beginning to feel like he's back at the mall…" He remembered yesterday afternoon and the women that drove him crazy.

She giggled as he started to face her, "Much better."

He crossed his arms where his muscles showed through the shirt, "Much better? Maximista approves?"

"Well I approved before, I just wanted this," she raised the shirt, "Because it's one less thing I have to take off later," she giggled.

"Ah ha! The Jackal knew it!" Spinelli slightly jumped with his hands moving around in excitement.

"Spinelli," she playfully rolled his eyes like he was being over ridiculous about this, "Go prepare breakfast, I'll think of something for us to watch."

She watch as he left the room, narrowing in on his buttocks until he disappeared into the kitchen where she quickly opened up his computer and tried to focus on finding a movie for them to see instead of thinking of the hot guy that was incredibly irresistible to her nowadays.

Spinelli grabbed a large plate from the cabinet and took out the box with the muffins in it and then grabbed the container with the fresh fruit Mike added. Setting it neatly on the plate he found himself within minutes become less interested in eating breakfast and as he grabbed his container of food he found himself unable to look at it as the smell of eggs and sausage made his face change another color.

He backed away from the table turning to the sink, bracing his hands on the edge, "oh…" He took a deep breath feeling his mouth become dry before suddenly feeling chilly. He breathed nervously hoping it would pass, he had gotten up early this morning so he wouldn't have to work later on, perhaps he was just tired, dehydrated from all the running around of yesterday, whatever it was had hit him as fast as the Asian Ague.

Maxie looked at the movies playing in the theatre, all of which she wasn't too interested in because she was the traditional romantic comedy girl while Spinelli's interests were that of the typical guy who wanted to see the Dark Knight. As much as she despised the action-drama movies unless they included a remarkable love story, she knew Spinelli was dying to see it since before his accident and therefore decided she'd like to see it with him, just to be with him…and to get a glimpse of Christian Bale.

Spinelli pulled himself together and walked out of the kitchen where he glared at her, "Maximista is on my computer for what reason?"

"To see what time you…" She paused looking up at him as he approached the couch, "Spinelli are you okay?"

"Yeah," he tried to smile while licking his dry lips, "W-what were you up to?"

"Oh um," she looked back at the computer, "You want to see the Dark Knight tonight?"

He chuckled setting the plate down on the coffee table, "I'm sure Maximista doesn't want to see Bad Ass Batman fight evil doers…"

"No," she giggled, "But there have been plenty of times you've watched movies I wanted to see…"

"I liked the Notebook," he softly smiled as if he wasn't actually forced to watch that like the rest of the movies they watched the day before yesterday.

She laughed, "I know you did, you were crying with me."

He felt his pride innocently chipped away, "I had something in my eyes."

"Uh huh," she smirked, "Anyway I thought since your going back to the hospital tomorrow to start your training again…" _And as if that wasn't enough stress, we might be having a baby, _"Well…it might be a while before you and I can have some alone time with each other so I thought this would be something we could do together."

He softly smiled, "The Jackal is honored that Maximista would broaden her horizons to experience a wonderful movie him."

"Great, now," she looked at her plate only seeing a muffin and some grapes, "Spinelli this is supposed to be for the two of us?"

He laughed, "Just you blonde one."

"Well what are you going to eat?" She curiously looked at him before looking back at the computer to glance at times that they could go to.

"Nothing," he quickly answered hoping he wouldn't have to explain himself.

"…Let's go to the five o' clock showing," she decided for them before looking up at him, "Does that sound fine?"

"Sounds great," he kissed her cheek.

"Good," she smiled before noticing the tweak in his eye and lips, he was forcing this behavior, "Spinelli what's wrong."

"Nothing," he said before yawning.

"How early were you up this morning?" She looked at him as if she was about scold him.

"Five-four…Four," he rambled feeling his throat become scratchy, his palms become sweat, his face blush with nervousness like he had a spot light shined on him.

"Four?" She looked at him concern, "Spinelli!"

"Maximista," he looked at her wanting to explain, "It was only so we could have today to ourselves."

"Spin," she softly smiled at him cupping his cheek, "That's sweet of you, but your exhausted…" She rubbed her thumb against his pale white skin.

"No," he nodded, sweetly taking her hand off his cheek, "I'm ok-okay, seeing you happy makes it all worth it."

She grunted, "Well let me reward you then for your efforts," she motioned to the plate grabbing a small eighth slice of the muffin, "Open up…" She thought it was only right, since last night he fed her strawberries.

He watched as she brought the muffin in closer, "Um the Jackal doesn't need chocolate."

"Spinelli this and some orange sodas will give you some energy and get you back to your old self," she motioned it closer when she saw that he was becoming weary of it, "Spinelli?"

He could see she was worried, "I'm just not that hungry right now."

"For Chocolate?" She put the muffin slice in her mouth before asking him, "Or in general?"

"In general," he cleared his throat before motioning to rub his shoulder as an excuse to pull the shirt away from his neck that felt on fire.

He stopped massaging his infuriated shoulder and calmly looked up at her insisting "It's nothing to be of concern, I probably just caught a little of what you had the other day."

"You're not feeling well?" She intently looked at him already motioning to check his temperature, but he gently stopped her, "Maxie."

"I'll take of you," she quickly said, but not really knowing how to take care of him while she wasn't exactly on her A game either.

He pushed her blonde curls behind her ear and softly looked up at her, "That's unnecessary," he smiled trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to die on her, "I'm just tired that's all."

"Well that's cause you keep getting up at four in the morning to do work you don't need to do," she kindly told him that this behavior would begin to hurt his health if he didn't stop.

"Sometimes I don't have a choice Maximista," he leaned back on the couch with his elbow on the armrest and his hand lifting his head up.

"Yes you do," she looked at him, "It's called "no Jason I just recovered from heart surgery."

He looked away from her not amused, "Now is not a good time to abandon him Maxie."

His expression looked serious which instantly worried her, "Why?"

"Because it's just not." He looked at her to drop this right now; the information was far too risky for her to know.

He closed his eyes letting his fingertips rest on his eyelids, "Please don't ask me questions about this."

What stressed him out, stressed her out, "Spinelli I can help," she attempted to reach out to him.

He opened his eyes annoyed, "Like you helped the last time?"

She frowned when mentioned it, "Spinelli…"

He hated himself for mentioning it, "I'm sorry, that wasn't your fault it was mine, I should have done a better job of protecting you."

She watched him look away from her, staring at nothing particular in the room for his mind was back to that day, that day he could have stopped her and didn't.

He pouted as the memories of the penthouse flashed in his head, "It was my fault, no one else's," he motioned to get up needing some Advil for the headache he was getting.

She instantly grabbed his hand, "No it was my fault." She pulled him back down on the couch.

"No it wasn't, I should have took the initiative like I did with Lulu at the Black and White Ball when I knocked her out, I should have just thrown you over my shoulder and marched you upstairs...but…" He looked away from her knowing he couldn't do that because he didn't have that the strength in him.

"Spinelli," she grabbed hold of his hand where he reluctantly looked at her, "You saved my life from a bunch of professionally trained killers while you were bleeding to death, you did enough."

"But you would have never needed saving…"

"Had I listened to you and stayed at the Penthouse," she interrupted, wishing he would get this through his head. "You told me it was dangerous and I didn't care and I," she cupped his cheek, "Almost lost the best thing in my life because of that."

She looked straight into his eyes wanting him to really look at her and understand what she was saying, "I never knew how much you meant to me until you stopped talking to me on the docks."

"I called for you and you didn't say anything, not Maximista, not blonde one, you just lied there and I…" She looked away from him, "Damn it Spinelli," she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "You really scared me, you scared me more than I have ever been scared in my entire life."

It broke his heart that he had this affect on her, "I'm sorry." He wiped the tears from her eyes wishing he were like Jason, "I'm sorry." He wished he kept his distance from her, ended their relationship as soon as they found out who Georgie's killer was.

She cupped his other cheek, pulling on both his cheeks, desperately trying to tell him just how scared she was, "You have no idea what it was like to watch you hurt and not be able to do anything about it. To see you in pain and bleeding and that no matter what I did to stop it, to comfort you…I felt…" Her lip trembled as she shrugged her shoulders in front of him, "Helpless."

He never knew what it was like for her, she never told him this, they never talked about it and now he knew. He knew it was something she was never going to want to experience ever again, "You'll never have to go through that again."

"Promise?" She uncontrollably sobbed.

"Promise," he pulled her into a hug wondering if he'd be able to keep this promise with the new threat coming to Port Charles.

She put her hand on his chest where he muffled her cries, "Shush…" He felt like he suddenly knew what this morning and last night was about. It wasn't that she thought there was possibility that she could be pregnant, she was simply afraid of losing him, losing these little moments and never being able to create more with him. She wanted a future with him, perhaps the fairytale, the wedding, the kids, the old age, the lifetime, she wanted the opportunity to have it with him, he understood her secret pain.

She leaned away from his chest wiping her tears, "I'm sorry I've been so emotional Spinelli." She looked at the dark damp circle on his black shirt.

He softly smiled, "It's understandable."

She looked at him wondering what he meant and he elaborated, "You're afraid of losing me and there's nothing wrong with that Maxie, nothing wrong with that at all."

He wiped away the remanding tears from her eyes before holding her hands, "And if you don't think that I fear losing you you're wrong, you are all I've got, Jason, Lulu and you, that's it."

He kissed her hand before gently placing it against his cheek where he felt her thumb tenderly rub the rosy red smooth skin, "That's why, when I ask you not to ask questions, not to get involved, I'm doing it to keep you safe."

"I know, but you don't have to be brave and strong all by yourself," she frowned at him.

"Yes I do, I need to be stronger and braver then you and your some stiff competition," he joked and she laughed obviously remembering the words he spoke with Mike earlier.

He gazed up at her, their chuckling slowly coming to an end and he squeezed her hands, "When I ask you to listen to me I mean it. It's not that I don't want your help or that I don't trust you or that I don't love you because I do." He sincerely looked at her before beginning to stroke her blonde hair where she briefly closed her eyes as a habit of hers whenever he delicately touched her that way.

He lowered his hand from her hair to hold both her hands where he looked up at her, "I love you forever and for always, remember that."

Her eyes watered up feeling like his words had an eerie finality to them, "Spinelli."

"Remember that, no matter what happens, I want you to know that I've never been as happy as I am right now with you," he slowly muttered having no idea why he was suddenly admitting so many of his feelings to her. He guessed it was because he felt comfortable around her and he should, she was his best friend, but he realized he was speaking like this because he'd never want her to believe that it wasn't real, that what started one cold December day as horrific as it was, gave him and Maxie one of the greatest gifts, love.

She slowly nodded understanding him, but at the same time hating the possibility that there might be a time where he wouldn't be there as the man she loved or as her best friend, it was something she'd never be able to accept, there was no way she could live day to day without him in her life, never.

"Spinelli I need to you too much to ever let us fall apart, best friends or…" She pecked his lips, "As the man I love."

She looked down at their hands, "They'll never be a day that I won't think of you. I need you in my life and preferably as my boyfriend," she playful squeezed his hand before giddily smiling, "I love you, forever and for always."

He nodded as her words confidently told him that they were on the same page again, "Are we okay now?" He looked at her not wanting to fight anymore.

_Minus the pregnancy thing, yup!_ "Yes."

Beep.

Spinelli looked over at his computer, as did Maxie where suddenly search engines popped up with pictures of Andrew Karpov and a man, a man they knew too well.

"Spinelli who is that with Sonny?" Maxie glanced at him to see an unnerved look in his eye.

"I was right," _I knew he would betray Stone Cold._

He uttered in disbelief, "The beginning of the end is now." The apocalypse, he thought until he realized what he was saying and quickly turned to her, "I promise you whatever happens, you'll be safe, I'll protect you."

"I know you will, but don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself," she thought he might be blowing this out of proportion, Sonny and Jason are best friends above anything else, Sonny would never betray him, would he?

"I hope I'm wrong, I hope this isn't what it looks," he looked back at the screen, "I can't tell Jason, not yet."

"That's a good idea," she looked up at him where his eyes were still fixated on the computer, "Spinelli."

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have seen this," he instantly closed his laptop wishing he had discovered this on his own.

"Spinelli," she softly said his name, "I'm glad I did."

He nodded in disagreement where she interrupted him, "What bothers you, bothers me and I know we just had that whole speech about what I'm allowed and not allowed to know, but this is different."

"You can't say anything to the fashionista, Maxie, I will give the information I have to Jason er Stone Cold and Stone Cold will confront Mr. Corinthos Sir most likely before he does anything."

"Spinelli, Kate is my boss." Maxie looked at him as if it would be wrong not to tell her.

"Maximista this information has the power to blow everyone's lives apart, including our own, if Sonny has betrayed Jason, I might have a target on my back…"

"No," she nodded with urgency, "He wouldn't do that because Kate would never speak to him again," she intently looked at him, "Killing you would be killing his relationship with her, the wedding would be off and she'd go back to New York City."

"Which is why we need to keep this between you and me today, in fact, my computer can do everything all on it's own so let's forget we stumbled across this and continue to let today be about us."

"Are you sure?" She looked at him for this was pretty important, important enough to affect their future; she almost wanted to encourage him to work.

"Yes, I'm going to see Jason tomorrow anyways. By then my computer will have all the information that's available and so I'll bring it up and he and I will take care of this, so don't worry okay?" He really didn't want to her to get upset over this and become as negligent to herself as she was when he was in the hospital.

"I'm not worried about this," _actually I am, damn it Sonny, wants his cake and to eat it too,_ "I'm worried about you. I don't want you pushing yourself over this okay," she cupped his cheek for he looked awfully tired so tired that she really began to feel bad about this morning.

"I'll be fine," he insisted, "I'm sure I caught what you had a few days ago," he rubbed his eyes while Maxie tried to keep a straight face as he said that for there was no way he could have what she has.

He tenderly looked her wishing he could hide his emotions better, wishing he could convince her that all would be well, "I'm a little dehydrated, soda does dehydrate you," he presented like it was a fact before getting back to his point, "But as long as I'm in your presence there's no reason why we still can't see that movie tonight."

"Alright," she sighed before gently beginning to stroke his bangs, "But you let me know the minute your not feeling well."

She watched him innocently nod at her where she asked in Nurse Mode, "How are you feeling now?"

"Better now that we're talking and not yelling at each other," he light heartedly pouted.

"How can I make it up to you?" She softly looked at him as she continued to stroke his hair knowing it was making him feel better.

"Oh um," he playfully rolled his eyes, "Maybe a kiss or something…" He looked at her, "But on the cheek of course because I don't want to get you sick."

Maxie giggled, "First I think you probably aren't feeling well because you got up at four and we didn't get home until 2 so I think it's safe for me to say that you Damian are hopelessly exhausted."

"That could be it," he sarcastically looked at her, "Any other prognosis Dr. Jones?"

"Very funny," she leaned in stopping just short of his lips, "Like I could ever be a doctor."

"Well you did pretty good surgery on my heart," he goofily smiled, really liking this whole tease and flirt thing that he had only learned to do with her.

"Oh I did, did I?" She giddily smirked before crashing her lips into his not giving him the chance to respond back.

She wrapped her arm around his neck while cupping his cheek with her other hand as their lips stayed locked. He lost the will to be able to kiss her passionately while sitting so he ever so gently leaned back on the pillows against the armrest. Spinelli smirked as she ever so passionately collided into his lips once more, his Maximista had returned. Lying on top of him, she caressed his neck, his cheeks and quite frequently his lips. She wanted to show him how much she loved him, how sorry she was, how close she longed for them to be again. As her kissing settled down she rested herself against his chest, his hand becoming intertwined with hers while his other wrapped around her waist, hugging her.

"Will you hold me?" She asked for they hadn't held each other in a while, since well last night.

He looked down at her; "I'll hold you forever."

"And never let go?" She glanced up at him.

"Never let go." He softly smiled before leaning into gently kiss her lips to reassure her of the promise he just made.

He squeezed her closer to him where his fingers motioned to grab a nearby blanket for the two to cuddle up under when she softly stopped him, touching his hand, "Don't."

He looked away from their hands to her eyes when she uttered the sexiest thing she had ever said to him, "Your all the warmth I need." And like that he moved his hand away from the blanket and let her snuggle up closer to him where the two eventually fell asleep in each other's arms both content; content that the other held them for as long they wanted to be held, never once pulling away. Just living in the moment, living in their love that wasn't going to last despite their hearts desire.

--

So are you about to kill me yet for leaving the chapter on yet another sad note? Well it's foreshadowing to the next chapter. "It's the beginning of the end" that is in reference to the song by Smashing Pumpkins, it's called something like "The beginning is the end is the beginning". Ask yourself why I would put that in there, hmmm. I'm really happy Spinelli and Maxie somewhat talked about the shooting, I thought it was important for them to open up a little bit, for Maxie to reveal that she's scared for him, that was done in order to not only throw Spinelli off about the pregnancy thing, which should be revealed in two chapters, not the next one, but the one after.

Next Chapter:

"Do you ever wish you could start the day over again?" (I think Joey Potter said this in the episode of Dawson's creek where Dawson finds out about her and Pacy, the episode that retells a story in different perspectives)

A kiss is just a kiss, a betrayal is so much more.

Lulu and Maxie gossip about their nights.

Jason gets a visit from two blond ones before realizing he must go back on his principles of life, Spinelli isn't happy, more than one will get his wrath and it's the beginning of Harvey Dent or is it the end? "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

It's beginning to get to me by Snow Patrol.

Dr. Hunter and Spinelli get into it, Johnny and Patrick step in and Claudia walks in wondering what's going on.

Lulu talks to Spinelli before he's readmitted to General Hospital. Robin talks to Maxie at work, Kate is there and Lulu rushes in with dire news. Robin leaves to find Jason, they remember the past, the first time they broke up.

Prognosis: Poison, an infection, But what was behind his behavior? Sonny's Pills?

Expected Recovery: Four days.

Patient Requests: No visitors.

Reason: Ashamed of himself.

Is it too late _apologize_?

--

Review!


	19. Sense of Touch

Chapter 19

**Sense of Touch**

"Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other." –_Crash_

Author's note:

Well here is my update, my two-month update. I think it's long enough that you guys should be impressed or satisfied with the wait. The theme of this chapter started around the focus of Spinelli, a look into his past, but then it grew into something more. It's in the POV of many characters marked with dashes and a summary of that character (where there isn't a summary, it's in the POV of everyone). To help break up the story, I titled each "scene" to make it easier to read. Eh I don't know if it will work. The events happen in order and it's basically about how all their little interactions change each other's lives. Kind of like Crash (2004). Enjoy! And please review!!!!

* * *

It was more complicated than what the Oxford American Dictionary defined it as. In the English Language it could be explained in three words, but in Damian Spinelli's it could be summed up in one:

_Lie (noun) – an intentionally false statement._

He associated such a word with this verb in the Oxford American Dictionary because of the great deception that was revealed to him two years ago, May 2006, three months succeeding to his employment with Lorenzo Alcazar.

_**----**_**Mother Dearest---**

"_Who's there?" He heard the old woman's voice, her figure casting a shadow on the oak wooden floor. _

_He cringed looking back at the drawer and quickly closed it wanting to leave the premises that used to be his room. He got up from his knees seeing her silhouette approaching the doorway and rushed for the window when the lights flickered on._

"_Freeze!" _

_He put his hands up knowing there was no escaping now, he had been caught red handed. _

_She hastily eyed him before cocking her shotgun, "Turn around-And no sudden movements! No tricks!"_

_He nodded his head implying he could follow her directions and slowly turned around. _

"_Wow, you haven't changed at all Nana," he chuckled, "After all this time, you still greet burglars with your handy dandy shotgun." _

_Her eyes narrowed in on the young man before her where once they caught enough of his facial features, she stared straight gasping in shock._

"_Cat got your tongue Miriam?" He smirked, lowering his arms. "Is it possible in the…Oh I don't know" he counted his fingers, "Fours years I've been gone that you might have actually missed me? Are you capable of that feeling oh granny of mine?"_

"_Da-Damian?" She hesitated, "Is it you?"_

_Her flushed face perplexed him, it showed emotion unlike anything he had ever seen. It was so bizarre, he had to stop himself from caring, "You mean is it your grandson?" He walked forward with an evil grin on his face, "Who else would it be?"_

"_Damian," she scarcely said backing away from him, "I know your…"_

"_Bitter? Because you refused to see me in the hospital?" He gestured his hands as he proposed rhetorical questions, "Angry? Because you made me feel responsible for his death?" He chuckled, "Oh I'm passed that, four years of smoking weed and studying your ass off to the point where your eyes want to fall out, makes you forget why you're the person you are." _

_She could definitely see who he was now as they stopped in the middle of hall. She had lowered her gun to ease up the tension, but it didn't seem to do a bit of good, it was in his eyes that he still very much resented her. Four years had changed her prodigy to someone she couldn't even recognize. His sharp personality, his beliefs that first impressions were everything, his demands for respect, his desire to redefine the stereotype were non-existent, they were gone, lost to never resurface again. _

"_You can't be my grandson," she aimed the gun back at him. _

_His hair was long and messy, his clothes were baggy with graphics of profanity on the front, his eyes were so drained he looked much older than he should. He looked like shit and Damian Spinelli of four years ago would have never wanted to look like shit. _

"_What have you done with Damian?"_

_He huffed humorously before glaring at her while joyously shouting, "He's right here!"_

"_No!" She screamed, "You are not my grandson," she examined him from top to bottom, "Damian was better than this."_

"_Well Damian I'm afraid isn't going to come back for a very long time granny," he laughed, "In fact I've come to grasp with the fact that Damian Spinelli, all clean cut," he wiped his hand through his hair and took an invisible fluff of his dark black t-shirt, "All noble and perfect, well, I find that all the things he was didn't really do him any good, did it?"_

_He threw his hands up in the air questioning his former personality, "As good of a man he was, he wasn't loved by anyone," he hurtfully laughed._

"_Damian that's not true," she warm heartedly gazed at him._

"_Oh yes it," he looked at her not to dare make that claim, "Apart from granddad, no ONE loved me! Not my parents! Not you!" He huffed in a realization, "God, not even Tammy!" He ran his hand through his hair, his tone becoming softer at the faint image of the girl next door in his head, "And I really, really liked her, but no…"_

"_She and just like everyone else that I was there for," he raised his voice in an cry of outrage, "Were not THERE! When I" he pointed to himself, "NEEDED THEM!" _

_He turned his back to her stopping in the doorway of his room and paused in his moment of anguish, anguish that he swore he'd never get to the best of him._

_He breathed irrationally where he turned around and faced her, "I don't care what the excuse is, you don't abandon the people you love!" _

"_I never abandoned my grandson," she said firmly, attempting to softly touch his cheek, but he flinched away, "No, you just never acknowledged him."_

"_You don't understand Damian," she urgently said as he stood there with eyes that wanted to hurt her._

"_I don't understand?" He stopped in his tracks, "You know he told me that," he crossed his arms, "Grand dad told me all about it." He looked down at the ground smirking, "He told me about this hard life you had, even said that deep down," he glanced up at her, "You really loved me." _

_There it was again, eyes that looked as if it were true. It couldn't be, he told himself, but as he saw the tears well up in her eyes it made him more uncomfortable to the idea that it was. He realized he needed to get out before he turned another blind._

"_I want it Miriam," he coldly looked at her, "I want what she said has been waiting for me since he died."_

"_I don't know what you're talking about," she looked away from him._

"_Don't lie to me," he honestly looked at her, his tone gentler._

"_I don't know what you're talking about," she stressed again, refusing to make eye contact._

"_Right," he moved his hands to the beanie on his head and pulled it off to reveal his wallet._

"_I got a letter a week ago," he removed the folded paper from his wallet, "I guess every couple of years they check up on these cases and his lawyer wondered if I ever got this envelope that was sent to the house." He looked up at her knowing she must have gotten it, "I know you didn't burn it, so just tell me where it is and I'll be out of your life just as you never wanted me in it." _

_She studied him, looking for the boy she had raised where she then attempted to understand this rebellious behavior that he never experienced as a teenager, "You're…" She paused taking in his new look that still left her winded._

"_Different?" He filled in the blank._

_She wasn't amused by his smirk, "And you look like hell."_

"_Well…" He tried to think of something nasty to say about the way she looked, but found it impossible to say anything. He looked at her wondering why these feelings couldn't have been revealed sooner, why she tried so hard to fight it before. _

"_Please, Miriam," he gently spoke giving her the benefit of the doubt that his grandfather would have wanted. "The Jackal," he stopped himself almost feeling like he didn't need to use his title of cyberspace to impress her, "I need to know his last…" He paused putting his hands on his hips looking away from her, "I need to know what," he waved the letter, "I need to know what this is about."_

_The desperation in his voice told her that he was screaming to be his old self again and that this letter would lead him down that path, "It's not going to have the answers your looking for Damian."_

"_Maybe it won't."_

"_Oh I know it won't honey," she stepped towards him, "And you know how I know that? Because I can see the fear in your eyes."_

_He snarled at her ability to read him._

"_I can see that whatever you've turned into, has scared you," she leaned forward, "You long to be that man again," she pointed to the photo of him on the wall. _

"_See," she crossed her arms, "See you know what I think Damian?"_

"_It's Spinelli," he interrupted for he was pissed that it appeared she knew him better than he knew himself. _

"_My point exactly," she knew that odd change to his surname was a ploy to cover up the feelings he never dealt with from after the crash._

"_Can you give it to me or not," he plainly looked at her not wanting to continue this any longer._

_She ignored his request and continued her thought, "You know what I think Spinelli?"_

_She watched as he looked away from her, "I think," she glanced away from him to the photo, "I think you miss him."_

_She looked back at him to get his reaction, but he refused to look at her, "Because if you didn't," she looked into his gaze, "if you didn't miss him you wouldn't be here trying to remember the man who raised you to be him," she glanced at the photo._

_He looked up at her, the words becoming engraved in his mind. He could hate her for the honesty she so freely spoke, but he could love too for pointing out the crisis he had avoided to recognize._

_She glanced back at him, "Say what you will about me, but your grandfather very much liked the man in that picture, he loved him with all his heart and if he could see you now…"_

"_He'd be disappointed?"_

"_No," she responded with attitude, "He wouldn't care how you looked or how you acted if it was what you really wanted," she blankly looked at him before backing away to the closet. _

_She opened the door to the closet where before she turned to the shelf in it, she looked at him seriously, "I can give it to you."_

_He smiled, but knew there was a catch, "In exchange for what?" _

_She put the shotgun on the top shelf and then closed the door, "In exchange that you let me explain."_

_He looked at her confused as if she already knew what this was, "You…you read it didn't you?"_

"_For goodness sakes child! I loved that man, god bless his soul, but I'm not the cold hearted woman you think I am!" She briefly paused seeing his doubtful look, "I'm not believe it or not Damian." _

_She walked towards him with her hands on her hips where she came to a stop, "He was good man who I did not deserve, but he loved you like a…" She looked away before after composing herself she looked up at him, "The point is even in his passing there is not a day that I don't think of him. However he decided to tell the story is his right."_

"_Story?" The plot thickens he thought, but how deep the rabbit hole goes was way beyond his initial expectation. _

"_Yes," she walked passed him to the stairs where he followed her. _

_She turned the light switch on to a desk where there was a locked cabinet. Removing the key from around her neck she unlocked the doors and low and behold was a brown envelope. She took the enveloped and locked the cabinet back up and then placed the key around her neck._

"_Damian," she turned to him, "I'm going to make us some tea, you still drink tea don't you?"_

"_Err not really," he saw her disappointed face, "But today I could."_

_She smiled and then looked down at the envelope, "All I have to say about this right now is that love is complicated and it's messy and it's a whole lot of things that you don't expect." _

"_Grams," he sincerely looked at her almost wanting to hug her, the tension was temporarily relieved._

"_I'm serious Damian," she insisted, "It never pans out the way you want it to," she softly smiled, "And you spend a whole lot of time wishing and dreaming that it had until one day you realize that maybe there was a reason it happened the way it did and maybe you're better for it."_

_She took his hand in hers and placed the envelope in it, "I don't expect you to understand because you are young and you have so much to live for," she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes. _

"_But Damian," she looked up at him where he grabbed onto her as if worried for her well being, "I only hope that someday if you ever experience what I have, that you look back on this moment and understand why I did it."_

_His eyes grew wide, "Why…"_

"_You promised to let me explain," and with that she left him standing in the den. _

_He looked down at the envelope wondering what she had done and why his grandfather found it so pertinent that he knows this now. _

_He walked to the doorway where he looked up at her in the kitchen. Watching her by the coffee pot, his thumb nervously grazed the envelope wondering if what he was on the verge of learning was worth the 21 years he had been left out in the cold. _

_He walked into the kitchen where she was surprised to see him take a seat. He somewhat smiled at her and then opened the envelope where inside was three written pages addressed to him. Seeing his handwriting brought overwhelming tears to his eyes, he couldn't believe that in the four years of his time at Princeton that there were days he stopped thinking about him._

"_Damian?" She called his name in a softer tone and when he looked up at her with tears in his eyes it made her heart melt, how she got along these years without him she didn't know. _

"_Before you read it, just know that I do love you and I missed you." _

_He didn't know what to make of it all. The emotions were one thing, but the resentment yet importance of the document he held had an overwhelming affect on him. It was as if he might never be the same after this that was the gloomy eerie feeling building up in his stomach. Forty-five minutes later, he no longer wanted to consume tea. _

"_So?" She looked at him as he set the letter down._

"_I don't know what's worse," he looked up at her with aggression, disgust. He crossed his arms, swallowing saliva built up in climax of the revelation, and began to unnervingly rub his chin. He stared at her as the words circled around his head and his eyes began to well up with tears that sent his face on fire. _

"_I don't know wha-what's worse," he cleared his throat._

"_Damian."_

"_NO," he coughed with his finger pointing at her._

"_Please," she crept towards the table where he abruptly stood up from the table sending the chair screeching back on the floor._

_He pointed at her, gasping where he ran his hands through his hair and turned away from her. _

"_Damian I did it for your own good," she stopped at the front of the table, "I did it to protect you, to protect you like I couldn't protect your brother and your sister."_

"_So you lied to me," he turned to her, his hand from his hair falling to his shoulder, "You lied to me."_

"_Damian, your father…"_

_He stepped to the chair in front of him where he set his hands on the oak wood, gripping it for dear life._

"_You have to let me explain…" She walked towards him._

_He jerked his head, "I don't have to do anything! You LIED to me!" He lectured leaning up from the chair, "How could you do that to me! To him," he pointed at the letters. _

"_Damian please," she cried grabbing onto his arms where he pushed her away._

"_No! You know what's worse that you lying to me?" He hatefully glared at her._

"_You know what's worse?" He laughed before his emotions took over and his lips began to quiver at the words he was about let out, "That you're my mother!"_

"_Ahh!" He backed away from her, "You know how sick and twisted that is!"_

"_Damien no," she walked towards him where he continued to back away from her, " Your father's enemies would have kidnapped you or killed you, you were all I had left! I love you!"_

"_No! Let's get this straight Miriam! You know what you did? You let a little boy hate himself for your mistakes!"_

"_No you wrong!"_

"_Shut up! I'm not finished!" He restrained himself from pushing her away, "What you did isn't love, lying isn't love it's betrayal!" _

_---_

Betray (verb) – be disloyal to.

---

Today the man behind the computer would be revealed. Damian Spinelli's secret pain would help those around him understand the man before them.

**---****It's is quiet, too quiet----**

"Well good morning the expectant one," Spinelli grinned at Robin's expanding belly, which was exposed to him when he stopped in front of the Nurses Station, "How is the mother and the wee one doing?"

Robin chuckled, "Doing well I would say," she glanced down at her stomach and gently rubbed her hand over it.

"Well," Spinelli leaned his elbows on the counter, "If the jackal may say," he looked at her belly and then up at her face, "You are positively glowing."

"Aw thanks Spin," Robin softly smiled removing her hands from her belly and slightly cupping his cheek to show her gratitude.

Spinelli blushed, "It's true."

"Hey Spinelli!" Patrick's voice came a holler, "You're not hitting on my girl friend are you?" He teased as he snuck up behind Robin and put his hands around her belly.

"Most assuredly no," Spinelli awkwardly chuckled, "I was just complimenting Dr. Robin on her beauty, which is breath taking."

"Hey get your own girl friend," Patrick innocently threatened until Robin playfully hit him where Patrick jokingly smiled, "I'm just kidding man, um I presume you're here to see Dr. Bayard?"

Spinelli nodded, "Correct, I'm hear to get checked out and pick up some meds."

"Okay well," Patrick kissed Robin's neck and then removed his hands from her belly to his patients charts, "His office is right on my way to visiting a patient, I'll let him know you're here."

"My deepest gratitude's," Spinelli said to him just before he left, "Well," Spinelli glanced at Robin, "I'll leave to your patients," he began to lean up from the counter when he twitched his shoulder and his smile suddenly cringed.

Her doctor intuition wanted to ask him if he was alright, but she refrained from doing so knowing that Maxie was probably asking him that all the time, "It's okay I'm on break."

"You have better things to do," Spinelli didn't want to impose on her break.

"Like stand on my swollen feet for ten minutes?" Robin chuckled, "Come on," she stepped off the Nurses Station, "You can catch me up on my cousin's life."

Spinelli was slightly speechless, "I don't know if it's really my place to give out such explicit details of Maximista's life."

Robin giggled at how he worded what he just said, "Hun," she gently touched his good shoulder, "I'm not asking you to read her diary and report back to me," she chuckled once more as they took a seat.

"Sorry," Spinelli felt stupid, "Maxie is doing good, I mean I don't think the Jackal's injury is still sickening her at least the Jackal hopes not," Spinelli looked away from Robin leaning his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together."

Robin sympathetically touched his hands, "Spin, she'll always be worried about you."

Spinelli looked at her rattled, "I wish she wouldn't."

Robin softly laughed, "It's in our nature to worry about the people we love."

Spinelli nodded, agreeing, "I know, but, it's not good for her health."

Robin's eyebrows furrowed, "Health?"

"Oh," he looked up at her like she had jumped to the wrong conclusion, "She's fine, it isn't her heart or anything."

"Well," Robin began to giggle, "What kind of health issues does she have?" Robin playfully poked fun at him wondering what exactly Spinelli was getting at.

Spinelli laughed while leaning back in the chair accidentally shrugging his shoulders as he said, "I d-on-'t kno-w."

Robin watched as his entire face tightened to hold in his anguish emotions. She glanced away from his closed eyes and his trembling lips to his hands that were fists.

In the silence between them she could hear bursts of irrational breathing, if anyone needed to be concerned about their health it was he, "Spinelli?"

He couldn't respond to Robin because all the anger, guilt and sorrow he felt turned his emotions into a blender of numbness. Her warmth turned the coldness away. Her voice overpowered his conscience. Her beauty filled his mind with images of his favorite memories of her. These were the reasons she became his motivation to get better and when he went to bed last night and the night before and so on and so forth, she had continued to be that positive light in his eyes until this morning. This morning had made it hurt to think of her, it hurt to think of the last time he saw her because the pressure to get back on track was becoming more overwhelming than ever.

**---****Hate myself today---**

"_Spin-elli?" He heard her tiresomely question from the bed where he saw her brush her blonde hair out of her eyes to bring clarity to him._

_He delicately threw his leather jacket on, "Go back to sleep."_

"_Where-where are you going?" She asked in barely formed syllables, still very much asleep from probably the best nights sleep she had in a while which was why he didn't want to wake her up._

"_My appointment…"He vaguely explained where he watched her look at the clock, 5:45._

_Her furrowed eyebrows of confusion made it apparent that she wasn't making the connection, "But it's at eleven?"_

"_I changed it." He simply said with no emotion for he really wanted to get out of her presence._

"_Well I'll come with you," he saw her motion to pull off the covers on her, but he quickly interjected, "No, no." _

_He sat just on the edge of her bed touching her hands that were grasping the sheets, "No."_

"_Spinelli I'll just get dressed and we'll go," she motioned once more, but he abruptly stopped her and jerked his shoulder in the process. _

_He clenched his jaw, trying to hold all his emotions back, but when he felt her hand cup his cheek and her soft voice "Spinelli what's wrong?" He knew he hadn't done a very good job at covering it up._

_Closing his eyes he slightly nodded, "no-no-nothing."_

_She was fully awake now, his stuttering, his clammy cheeks with a build up of sweat, all alarming her like sirens going off that this was not nothing, "What is it?"_

_He opened his eyes knowing he needed to be a man about this, "Nothing my love."_

"_I'm sorry Spinelli," her heard her frail tears choked up in her voice, "I'm sorry you're in pain because of me," she looked away from him. _

_In the moonlight shining through her window, he saw tears running down her cheeks, "Oh no Maximista." He slowly lifted her chin, making eye contact with her shimmering blue eyes. He softly smiled as her eyes looked down at his hand and then back up at his eyes, "See?" He smiled more confidently to show her that he was okay, okay until he was out of her presence._

"_Are you sure?" She asked raising her hands to his cheeks._

"_Yes," he seriously spoke to her, "The jackal is not leaving you because he is in pain, he is leaving so he can come back to you sooner."_

"_But…"_

"_No," he sternly looked at her removing her hand from his cheek to kiss it, "What did I tell you?" _

"_I know," he heard her deep whine of tears in her throat._

"_Maximista?" He raised an eyebrow, "What did we discuss yesterday?"_

"_Spin," she placed her hand on his chest, obviously restraining from yesterday's thoughts._

_He picked her hand up from his chest, "Maxie," he gently kissed the palm, "I believe the Jackal said to not be sorry if the Jackal were to be in pain."_

_He watched her concernedly bite her lip, as tears building up in her eyes seem to be barely hanging on, "Heeeey I'm not in any pain, nothing more than usual." _

"_Spin," she sniffled looking at his arm, "I know something is wrong."_

"_You know what's wrong my fair Maximista?" He softly smiled at her insisting he knew something she didn't, "that you're pretty face," he wiped her tears with his thumb, "is getting worked up over nothing" _

_He felt her warm hands intertwine with his and before he knew it, the silence between them transformed into a little laugh, he had successfully deceived her._

"_Come on," he looked to the side of her at her pink pillow, "Lie down and go back to sleep for me." _

_She slowly lied back down holding his hand and gazed up at him where he could feel her longing to keep him close._

"_I'll see you for lunch perhaps? Noon?" He questioned and she of course nodded with a pout. _

"_Maximista," he raised his hand to her blonde curls and gently began stroking them, "The Jackal will see Dr. Commando and Mickey, he'll have lunch with his most beautiful blonde one and then after seeing Stone Cold he'll come back and cook for you."_

"_Spinelli you don't have to cook, I just want to be with you," she played with his hand, "I want you here with me, not with Jason or with the doctors, I just want us…" _

"_Shh," he could hear the tension of tears in her voice, "The Jackal and the blonde one will have plenty of time to be together, don't worry." _

"_I'm not worried," she wiped the tear from her eye, "I'm just..." She frustratingly looked away from him, letting go of his hand._

_He sighed, looking away from her to at last relieve the tension in his face from the pain that he was trying to cover up, "Maxie."_

"_Maxie," he said as he looked over to her who was refusing to look at him. _

"_Will you look at the Jackal?" He somberly looked at her. _

_She pressed the tears below her eyelids, looked at her wet skin and then pulled the sheets closer to her, turning away from him farther, "Just go Spinelli." _

**---How to a save a life, give up your own---**

"Spinelli?" Robin looked at the tense man leaned up against the chair. She could see the tears in his closed eyes that he refused to let go because letting go, she knew, meant a knife in his pride.

"I'm okay, I just need a minute," he clenched his jaw wishing it would go away until he was by himself.

She glanced away from his face to his hand of the aching shoulder, the hand that was shaking uncontrollably.

"Spin?" She questioned looking directly at his closed eyes that at last opened when the shaking suddenly stopped.

He opened his eyes to see her hand tenderly squeezing his, he gasped.

"Spinelli," she sweetly smiled, "Hun," she wiped the tear streaming down his right cheek where soon after her hand joined hers and together kept his unstable hand secure.

She gazed up at him seeing terror in his eyes, terror he didn't need to be afraid to show, "Spinelli, You don't have to be afraid to show your pain in front of me."

"I don't?" His face scrunched up in utter surprise, would she not judge him as so many others had?

"No," she slowly nodded.

His lip trembled as salty tears rolled down his cheek and into his mouth causing him t choke as he begged a promise from her, "Please-Please don't tell Maximista."

"Oh Spin," she frowned believing Maxie would want to know.

"Please," his pleaded, "Please. I-I don-don't think I can handle…" He looked away from her, his head down in shame.

She thought when she saw them at the concert that everything was okay between them. She thought they were two young kids in love having the time of their lives, but when she saw that look, that look of failure in his eyes, she realized that how they appeared to look was not at all how they were.

"It'll be our secret," she softly smiled at him, giving him her word. "Come here." She motioned him to fall forward so she could hug him.

He fell into her arms sobbing. He was happy that no one was at the Nurse's Station or in the back of the room or around the corner of the hallway, he was glad that for the most part they were alone.

"Shh," she rubbed his back.

"The Jackal doesn't want Maximista to get hurt Dr. Robin, you can understand that right?" He leaned away from her feeling like he had to explain himself.

"Sure, sure I do Spinelli, but…" She knew Maxie would want to know, she knew that after that one fateful afternoon that Maxie could handle the truth that he wasn't getting better.

"No, she is better off," he slowly leaned back against the wall, "If the Jackal even as so much expressed the pain he was in, Maximista would worry herself sick again and that is how the Jackal believes he got himself into such a predicament."

"I'm not following," she looked at him confused unable to see the connection.

"I'm not blaming Maximista in anyway," he honestly looked at her, moving his good hand negatively, "But the Jackal was on strict orders not to add pressure to his shoulder, to essentially not use it as Dr. Commando lectured."

"And I presume you didn't follow the doctor's orders, did you?" She slightly teased.

Spinelli nodded with less enthusiasm than Robin's teasing, "How was the Jackal suppose to follow orders when his Maximista faints before him?"

"Well she seemed fine at the concert," Robin mentioned feeling as though it might be a mute point still for him to lie to Maxie about his condition over a little faint.

"Maximista assures him it's nothing and she's probably right, but she's been more tired and exhausted then he's ever seen her before," he looked up at her with a nervous smile.

"She could be dehydrated Spinelli."

"But for weeks?" He looked at her like it was quite odd, "Ever since I've been in the hospital she's looked tired and when I ask her about it she doesn't answer me."

Robin giggled, "Because telling a girl she looks tired is implying she doesn't look pretty Spinelli, Maxie probably thought you were…" She hinted, but Spinelli nodded he would never imply.

"I tell Maximista she looks gorgeous everyday, she glows just as you do," he insisted with a bright smile.

She smiled at his compliment, taking note of every symptom when she thought of one thing he hadn't mentioned, "Is she eating?"

"The Jackal wishes he knew the answer to that, she's been nauseous, but she ate breakfast yesterday," he came off more hopeful then he wanted to.

Robin instantly perked up, "That's a good sign."

"I suppose," he slightly frowned, but before he could propose another theory he heard the voice of Dr. Commando aka Dr. Bayard.

"Mr. Spinelli…."

Spinelli instantly stood up, "Dr. Com-mando," he almost wanted to call him Dr. Bayard.

"Hey," the doctor smiled while chewing gum, "I've got your medicine in my office."

"Thank god," Spinelli laughed like it was the greatest news he had heard all week.

Dr. Bayard laughed before seeing Epiphany at the Nurse's station, "Excuse me for a second Spinelli."

"Yeah of course," he turned to Robin unsure of how to thank her.

"You don't have to say it Spinelli," she softly smiled.

"Well I appreciate it," he slid his hands into his pockets.

"Anytime," she politely hugged him before her pager went off, "I have to take this."

Spinelli motioned her to carry on with her day and then turned to Dr. Bayard who was still talking to Epiphany.

"Dr. Bayard you have a surgery at 10, noon and then at 2." She pointed them out to him on his clipboard.

"Thank you my darling," he excitedly pounded his fist on the counter turning away from her as the phone rang.

He walked towards Spinelli who had been politely waiting for him, "So you either changed your appointment because your in a lot of pain or you just can't wait to get back on the wagon with my brother, which is it?"

"Um both," Spinelli nervously looked at him.

"Okay, let's go to my office and talk," he motioned Spinelli to the hallway when just as they began to walk in that direction, Epiphany shouted, "Dr. Bayard!"

**---The Devil wears Prada? Or Jeans?---**

Lulu Spencer was a complicated woman. So complicated with her own problems, herself, that sometimes she forgot about the friend she needed the most in her life, the friend that she had ignored for the better part of the year. Four days ago she made a promise, a promise she had made many times to him, to be a better friend. Today she would take those steps to being that better friend.

"I'm so sorry Maxie, I promise this is the last time I'll be late!"

Maxie swiftly swerved the chair around, not realizing that the action she had done a hundred times in response to Lulu's occasional tardiness, would make her feel dizzy.

Lulu immediately took notice of her sudden change in color, but before she could express her concerns Maxie grabbed a set of files from the desk, "You know what I was doing this morning when Spinelli just out of the blue decides to leave oh six hours before his appointment?" She turned to her setting the files on her knees, "I was sleeping Lulu, you know bed pillow? Ring a bell at all?"

Lulu came to a stop in front of her, "I'm sorry Maxie."

"Sorry?" Maxie questioned in annoyance, "Lulu I stuck my neck out for you so you could keep this job."

"Well I never asked you to," Lulu set the coffee down on the rounded glass table next to her and then looked back at Maxie, "I never asked you to cover for me, but you and I both know why you did it."

"Yeah because I like looking better than you that's why," she looked down at the files on her lap, "Now please tell me you picked up the new layout from the publisher."

Lulu smirked at her reaching from under her arm, "Just because I can't get here on time doesn't mean that I can't forget the important things."

"Just give this to her," Maxie smirked back, "Can you handle that Lulu or should I" she attempted to stand up when she suddenly felt that wave of dizziness from seconds ago.

Lulu concernedly looked at her as she placed her hand over her mouth, "You gonna be sick?" Because if so, she wanted to help her either to a trashcan or bathroom.

Maxie swallowed the acid in the throat and nodded 'no' before placing her hand on her chest, "I'm fine," she apprehensively looked away from her.

Despite Maxie's harsh comments upon her entry into the office, Lulu could tell in her pale skin and her unease reaction to the nausea that Maxie was scared.

"Why don't you sit down," she took the files from Maxie who didn't seem to know what to do at the moment.

Lulu set the files on the table where the coffee was getting cold on and then turned back to Maxie putting her hand gently on her back, "Come on."

Lulu slowly tried to move her, but Maxie froze, pulling away from her tug, "I said I was fine."

Lulu eyed her wondering why every time she offered her help, Maxie always had to throw it in her face as if taking her advice would some how mean she was less of who Maxie Jones was, "Fine." She let go of her arm and backed away from her to the table where she picked up the files and the coffee, "You know Maxie…" She paused until she stood outside Kate's office, "Eventually your going to need my help."

Lulu turned away from her and knocked on the door, "Kate its Lulu."

"Just a minute Lulu, so nice of you to show up."

"Yeah sorry about that," Lulu replied feeling horrible again for being late, which she actually had a reasonable alibi for. She looked away from the window of the doors where she saw Kate was on the phone and looked at Maxie who was still awkwardly standing,

"And as for why you decided to help me keep my job, it wasn't so you could look better than me, it was for him."

"Okay come in Lulu."

Lulu looked back at the door and then looked up at Maxie wanting to say one last thing to her, "Eventually you're going to need my help and if you can wait ten minutes I can give you that help."

Lulu looked away from her distraught figure and pushed the door open where she immediately began apologizing for her absence, "Kate it'll never happen again."

"Good!" Kate walked around her desk to the door to her office and closed it, "Lulu, I don't know what's going on, but I can't have this again."

Lulu nodded, "I know I'm sorry, I know Maxie had the morning off and she had to come in early and…"

"It's not just about Maxie, it's the fact that when you don't show up others have to pick up the slack," she walked towards her, "I will not have my magazine fail because of an incompetent assistant."

"Right, I understand," Lulu nervously looked at her almost wondering if she was going to get fired on the spot.

It was then that Kate fell silent or rather quiet in a hush tone, "Now I know you and Johnny were just released from jail and I don't want to know what happened, but you need to start thinking of others and how your need not to get here on time affects everyone else, like Maxie for instance," Kate motioned to Lulu for the files and coffee.

Kate took the items from her and walked back to her desk, "That poor girl has had to deal with so much the past couple of weeks and even though I hear Spinelli is getting better," she glanced down at the newspaper on her desk which read _**Hero released from hospital, makes excellent comeback at benefit concert**_. "She's still not herself and that's perfectly fine," she looked up at Lulu, "I don't expect her to be, but she needs a little help and I wish you were a little more considerate to her considering she's the reason you're still working here."

Lulu nodded, "Yes, I understand."

Kate took her seat and looked down at her files, "That is all, you may go."

Lulu walked to the doors with her head down, but just as she put her hand on the doorknob Kate spoke once more.

"Lulu?" She looked up from the layouts, "It's good to have you back."

Lulu smiled, "It's good to be back." She politely nodded a thank you in her direction and Kate looked back down, going about her work.

Lulu walked from the office, closing the door behind her to be startled by Maxie's presence right outside the other door, "Max-Didn't I tell you to sit down?"

Maxie crossed her arms, "I heard my name…"

"And you just though you might eavesdrop at the cost of your own health?" Lulu looked at her as if she was being stupid.

"Lulu I'm fine!" She shouted with so much energy from her body that she began to unconsciously slip forward.

"Max? Maxie?" Lulu said in a hush tone before quickly hugging her as she almost lost consciousness.

She could feel Maxie's tight grip around her and sarcastically had to note, for Maxie's own good, in hopes Maxie would take her seriously, that obviously she wasn't fine, "Yeah you seem just dandy."

When Maxie didn't respond Lulu knew it was because she was petrified. Petrified for the state she was in, yes, being sick wasn't fun, but Lulu knew that it wasn't the pregnancy that scared her. It was the fact that it was becoming more noticeable that left her terrified, the inability to control it meant soon people would start asking questions, people like Spinelli.

"Its okay, come on," Lulu slowly led her to the chair where after gently setting her down she walked to her purse, that was on the small glass table, and grabbed a water bottle.

"Here," Lulu presented it in front of her, "You need this more than I do."

Maxie wearily looked up at her as she sat slumped in the chair.

"It's brand new Maxie, I haven't opened it." She could see her reluctance to take it from her, but when she did, Lulu backed away to her chair and watched Maxie barely swallow the water, "How many times?"

Maxie confusingly looked at her, "How many times what?" She leaned back in the chair taking deep breath.

"Have you gotten sick today, passed out or snapped at someone?"

Maxie slightly giggled, twisting the cap on the water bottle, and set it on her desk where she looked up at Lulu, "None, two, and just you."

Lulu wasn't convinced, "So you haven't snapped at Spinelli at all?" Lulu asked knowing that she had often times snapped at Dillon, but maybe it was different with Dillon, she didn't exactly like being around someone who was calling her a selfish bitch every ten seconds.

Maxie bit her lip at the thought of Spinelli, how his departure this morning left so many things unsaid, "He knows that I'm tired."

"But not that you're pregnant?"

"Lulu!" Maxie quietly scolded for mentioning it here at work.

"I'm sorry Maxie, but the way you just yelled at me back there even though you do that every time I'm late well…Look I just hope that you've some how be able to control your attitude around Spinelli, you know how sensitive he is."

"Lulu I'm trying, I really am, but every time I get remotely close to telling him…It's Jason's fault," she looked away from Lulu to grab a tissue on her desk.

"Jason?" Lulu questioned with extreme curiosity, "How does Jason fit into this?"

Lulu watched as she patted the few tears around her eyes, "Spinelli and I…We had a wonderful night on Saturday."

"Yeah," Lulu leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees.

"I mean he was just, just sweet Lulu," she laughed unbelievably still, "He drove me to Vista Point, we looked at the stars and he opened up to me in a way he never had before. All those times I had essentially bared my soul to him, he had finally let me in, his past."

Lulu's ears perked up, she had always wanted to know more about her drinking buddy, but it wasn't Maxie's place to tell her about something that was obviously kept private for a reason.

"He, he said that when he woke up in the hospital and I was there, that it was then he knew what love was," she moved her hand to the golden chain around her neck.

Lulu saw the red heart, "It's beautiful," Lulu smiled before looking up at Maxie, "It really is."

Maxie rubbed her thumb over the shiny red heart, "He gave me his jacket, he fed me the best strawberries I've ever had, and then he danced with me," she looked up at Lulu softly smiling, "It's like it came out of a fairy tale."

Lulu softly smiled in return. She smiled in happiness for her best friend, she smiled in a wee bit of jealousy that this was the man she gave up, but she mostly smiled because it was the type of story she needed to hear to lighten up the mood of her own night.

Maxie let the heart dangle and leaned back in the chair, "It was the most romantic thing he's ever done for me that anyone has ever done for me and I," she paused, "I can't believe I almost threw it away yesterday."

Lulu watched as she patted her eyes again only this time there were more tears, "Lulu, I snapped at him yesterday morning because of Jason."

"How did you snap at him?" Lulu wondered if it was like today when she walked from the elevator or if it was a full on attack.

"I was having a rough morning," she put her hand on her forehead while resting her elbow on the arm of the chair, "I had been sick in the bathroom for an hour maybe and I came back tired, angry and just needing him Lulu," she looked up at her, "I needed him and where was he?" She bitterly laughed, "Downstairs, doing Jason's dirty work."

"Maxie, Jason cares about Spinelli," Lulu insisted, but before she could elaborate on their relationship Maxie interrupted, "Does he really Lulu?"

"Does he?" She questioned again, "Does someone who cares about you call you the day you're released from the hospital to work? To find out information on the next target?"

"Maxie, I think," Lulu didn't exactly believe it was that serious, Jason's request.

"No Lulu, Spinelli is recovering from heart surgery, from a shoulder that I know hurts more than he leads on, Jason could hire someone else, but he insists on using Spinelli."

"Because he's the best," Lulu honestly looked at her, "Spinelli is the best and why should Jason settle for anything less?"

"Why should I?" Maxie questioned seriously.

Lulu was taken back by her words, "Maxie you need to be very careful here."

"Lulu I, I don't want to come between Jason and Spinelli, I don't, I know Jason loves him, but I love him too!"

"Okay!" Lulu shouted, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Lulu hastily said feeling as though Maxie might be on the route to destroying the best relationship she's ever had.

Lulu watched her look away from her annoyed, "Maxie, I'm not saying your wrong, I'm saying we need to think rationally about this."

Lulu looked in her direction, trying to get her attention, "Your not wrong for wanting to be first and you shouldn't settle for anything less, but this is Jason we're talking about here."

"Jason who Spinelli worships, who he loves like a brother and maybe even like a father," Lulu leaned over more, "Maxie, do you hear what I'm saying?"

Maxie looked at her, but couldn't speak the truth from her words.

"Spinelli is dedicated and completely loyal to him," Lulu said what they knew was true.

Maxie looked away from her until Lulu walked from her chair to Maxie's desk where she crossed her arms simply said, "Because he had no one else in his life that depended on him or cared about him as much as Jason has."

When Maxie refused to looked at her, Lulu put her hands on the arm rests of the chair and slowly swerved the chair so that she would be fact to face with her, "Maxie he has you now, he doesn't need Jason."

"Great," Maxie clapped her hands together sarcastically, "He's got me and a kid on the way that is if I decide to keep it," she smirked enthusiastically, "Just wonderful! He's won a family Lulu, but that still doesn't tell me whether he'll stop working for Jason if I ask him."

"Maxie," Lulu looked away from her in frustration, "From the first day I met Spinelli all he ever talked about was love. When he thought Alcazar was going to kill us, he couldn't believe he was going to leave this "heavenly" place, he was so upset he wanted us to hook up, one last moment of pleasure," she joked, _good time good times._

"We didn't," she could see Maxie's raised eyebrow, "I promise," she giggled, "but the point is, he held love in such high regard that now that he's found it, Maxie, why would he throw it away?"

Maxie fell silent and Lulu felt like she had done something right for once, "Maxie if you want him to quit working for Jason tell him or go to Jason…"

"Go to Jason?" Maxie questioned, "And say what? Can you please fire Spinelli so that he can have a life?" Maxie laughed at how stupid that would be, "Lulu I don't want him to stop working for Jason I just want Jason to back off…Let us have our lives so we can figure out this whole…thing."

"You can't wait for the mob or for Jason to make decisions about a…" Lulu wandered her eyes to the maybe baby.

"I know, but like I said every time I think that I should bring it up something always comes up, either he's suspecting me of something…"

"Well gee I wonder what?" Lulu teased considering she was keeping something from him.

"Lulu…" She paused not at all amused, "Or Spinelli and I are just recovering from our last argument…"

"Which is brought on by the fact that every time he asks you a question about your health or your behavior you change the topic to Jason," Lulu grinned, how she didn't see this before she didn't know, but suddenly their five minute conversation made so much sense now.

Maxie snarled at her, "I don't do that."

"Yes you do," Lulu giggled crossing her arms before leaning off her desk, "Every time someone tries to talk to you, connect with you or just try to understand you, you attack them."

Maxie looked away from her flabbergasted, but Lulu continued while backing away to her desk, "You turn the attention to the them and that's what you're doing to Spinelli."

Maxie quickly jerked her head, "I would never do that to Spinelli."

"Ah ha you admit it!" Lulu victoriously clapped, "You do, do that to people."

Maxie quickly stood up from her chair, "Yes you're right," Maxie rolled her eyes, "The great almighty Lulu Spencer has discovered my secret tactic to hurting people, but I would never do that to Spinelli."

"Well you are," Lulu said simply, "But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt of not intentionally trying to hurt him, but it's true."

"It is," she insisted, "He knows something is up and you are so afraid to tell him…that you think if you turn the subject back on his work with Jason that somehow it makes things better because he's one step farther away from knowing the truth."

"That's not true," Maxie looked at her tremendously hurt for she thought Lulu somewhat understood what she felt for him, "Do you think I want to do this to him? Do you think I enjoyed yesterday's fight with him! Or this morning? No I didn't, but I can't help it!"

Lulu nodded unbelievably, "Yes you can Maxie. Do you think I wanted to tell Dillon I was pregnant? No, I didn't, I didn't take any pleasure in it because I knew he loved your sister and I knew I would always be that mistake."

Maxie had to abandon ship, she knew this was a losing battle, so it was time to release the bad blonde one and obliterate the treaty in place, "Well you are right Lulu, you were a mistake!"

Maxie walked towards her, "You know if it weren't for you, Dillon and Georgie would probably still be married, which means she'd probably still be alive too."

"Maybe she would be, just like maybe my brother wouldn't have gotten himself hooked on pills if it weren't for you supplying them to him," Lulu snickered knowing Maxie's past was always more dreadful then hers.

"I'm sure Kate would just love to know how you stole pills from General Hospital and gave them to your dead boyfriend's partner! I'm sure she'd love to know how you broke up his marriage and faked a pregnancy, just like you went back and forth with Cooper and Logan, my only question is, what's your plan for Spinelli?"

"Huh?" Lulu questioned as she walked towards her, "You gonna destroy him just like you destroyed all of those great men."

"LULU!" Kate shouted from the doorway of her office.

Lulu looked up at her completely rattled. As much as she hated this job, hated spying on Kate and Jax for Carly and hated Maxie's constant bickering of her incompetence, there was a part of her that liked this job. It was proof that her world didn't revolve around Johnny at least not as much and it was a connection to her mother, her mother who had run a modeling agency, it was close to fashion and now she had small tiny bit connection to her. But now it was over. She could see in Kate's eyes she would fire her on the spot and why wouldn't she? She was late all the time, brought her cold coffee, knew nothing of fashion and had made too many mistakes. She wasn't worth Kate's trouble or her money and she knew Kate wouldn't dare take her word over her first assistant. There was no point in arguing to keep her job.

"You don't have to say it." Lulu turned to her desk and grabbed the family picture from before her mom left for Shady Brook two years ago.

"No you don't have to say it because there's simply no point," Lulu looked at Kate as she walked to the glass table to grab her black purse, "She's right and I'm wrong and it looks like you won," she looked at Maxie, "You won, I quit," she looked up at Kate who wasn't expecting this at all.

Lulu shoved the photo into her purse, "I only took this job because Carly wanted me to spy on you," Lulu honestly said before sliding the purse off the table where out fell a red box.

Lulu glared at the box in horror as it slowly fell to the ground. There was an awkward silence when it finally rested on the floor and just as Lulu bent down to pick it up, Maxie beat her to it.

"Don't," Lulu hushed as she motioned to open it where inside was a dazzling shiny ring of a stone nearly as big as Kate's.

"Lulu?" Maxie looked up at her wondering why she didn't say anything.

"I haven't said yes yet," Lulu wandered her eyes away from them feeling burdened by their stares.

"It's beautiful," Kate complimented, walking closer to get a better look.

"Lulu why didn't you say anything?" Maxie asked wondering how she couldn't tell her, perhaps things would all be different now.

Lulu looked at them taken back, "Why would I say something to people who hate me?" She asked in all honesty almost wanting to cry for it was the truth, why tell great news to people who would just turn it into bad news?

"Huh? Why would I tell you people of a possible engagement?" Lulu huffed, "You don't care. You don't care about me and you won't be invited to the wedding." She looked up at Kate, "Not a woman who takes pleasure in putting me down for my incompetence to the great Maxie Jones," Lulu gazed at Maxie with a smirk.

"And don't think for one second you'll be invited either. Spinelli is you're friend not mine and if he wants to bring you, well then he better count himself not on the guest list." Lulu snatched the box from her hand and shoved it in her purse, "I don't care about anything else on the desk, Kate I thank you for putting up with me for this long. I hope that my in ability to properly deliver you coffee or send an email or take a message for you, hasn't at all jeopardized your magazine."

"Lulu," Kate honestly looked at her hurt.

"Save it," Lulu looked at her with a glimmer in her eye, months of built up rage was finally going to be said, "You're a bitch, a bitch to work for, a bitch to Carly and a bitch to everyone around you because you are the famous Kate Howard Fashion Extraordinaire who thinks it's okay to treat people the way you do."

Lulu looked around the office, "You know I might not know anything about fashion or magazines or this world that you two live in, but I do know what it's like to work for a great boss and I believe he'll be your father in law soon? How much respect I have for him and how little I have for you" Lulu raised her eyebrow with a smirk.

Lulu walked to the elevator where after pushing the call button for the elevator, she looked back at Maxie, "And you want to be just like her…" Lulu nodded her head disappointedly.

The elevator rung and the doors opened to a bellman, "Going down?"

"Yes," Lulu smiled and then looked away from him to Maxie one last time, "And you know what sucks about what you're doing?" She stopped at the start of the glass table, "In the end not only do you hurt a great guy, but you hurt yourself and well you know, but for what?"

Lulu read Maxie's expression, but she no longer wanted to be help out the twit, "I think you are perfectly right to be concerned about him working for Jason, asking him to quit for you so you two can have a future is one thing, but asking him to leave so you don't have to deal with something you're not ready for, that…That is when I draw the line."

"Lulu," Maxie looked at her regretfully.

"I won't befriend you for Spinelli's sake which is sad because I think you and I could have made good frenemies," Lulu backed away from her to the elevator.

Stepping in she turned around to face them, "Have a nice day." The elevator doors closed and Lulu smiled triumphantly, "I'm sorry Spinelli."

**---The Hitman who became the Godfather---**

There were many things Jason Morgan didn't like about himself. In fact if you asked Jason Morgan himself he'd probably tell you there was nothing he liked about who he was. Jason Morgan saw himself as a lethal killer, a hit man who deserved the life he chose. There was no going back, no going back as a rookie, as his partner Damian Spinelli was.

Jason slowly walked off the elevator at General Hospital feeling the weight of every step he took towards the Nurses station. He came to a stop when he saw her making notes on a chart and chatting up Epiphany and Nadine. It was the tragic story of Jason Morgan's life, the man who watched his desires from afar. The accident of 1995 led him to the doorstep of Sonny Corinthos where his life, unbeknownst to him, would be forever changed. To fall in love, to get married, to raise children, to become a family man was never the plan of an enforcer until now. Now it was too late and Jason Morgan still found it difficult to let the woman he loved and the son they shared, slip through his fingers. How poor planning had led to his misfortune.

_Not again_, he told himself, _Not again _and like that Jason Morgan composed himself and walked over to the Nurses Station, requesting to know the whereabouts of Damian Spinelli.

"Um," Nadine looked over to Epiphany for help in finding the chart.

Jason looked away from the two and formed a small smile at Elizabeth's direction. He couldn't quite place this glow that she had to her. He had seen it before, but as they're eyes stayed locked on each other, he suddenly remembered where he had seen it and this memory reminded him of what led him here in the first place.

**---Confessions of a…Blonde One---**

"_Boss?"_

"_Yeah, I'll take care of it" Jason whispered and then set the phone down, "What's up?" Jason leaned back in the chair wondering why he had been disturbed._

"_There's a chick here to see you." _

"_And…."_

"_Um, tall, blonde." _

"_Carly, Lulu or Maxie?" _

"_Um…" _

_Jason frustratingly stopped the guard's thought process, "Forget it just send them in."_

_Jason straightened the papers on his desk wondering what mess, whomever was about to walk in his office, would bring. He put the papers in the drawer on his right and then saw the door open. He was happy it wasn't Carly, but he'd soon wish it had been. _

"_What do you want I'm busy," Jason protested her presence or rather anyone at the moment. _

_He watched as she closed the door and then scarcely faced him, explaining that this wouldn't take long._

_Jason looked down at his watch as she seemed to be taking her time, "Spinelli is going to be here in a few hours, can't you just bring this up with him?" _

_She raised her voice negatively at the idea and Jason's eyes grew suspicious, "What's going on?" He gazed up at her wondering why she was having such difficulty saying what she came here to say. _

"_Fire him," she whispered._

"_Excuse me?" Jason asked not really sure if he heard right. _

"_Do it Jason, fire Spinelli before he becomes you." _

_Jason grinned as if this was joke, "I'm a busy man so…." He motioned to pick up the phone._

_She walked towards him placing her hand on the phone, "I'm serious Jason." _

_He looked at her as serious as she was looking at him, "I can't do that." He motioned to dial the number in Italy again._

"_He's gonna be a father Jase."_

_Had Jason not seen him in the act, he wouldn't have believed it was possible, but because he had, he put the phone down, leaned back in the chair and listened._

**---The people we miss---**

Jason gazed his attention back at Elizabeth and remembered what it felt to watch her pregnancy from afar, he remembered how much it pained him to stay away in order to keep them safe. The timing for him to have a family had passed, but it had not passed for Spinelli. Spinelli still had a chance to have all the things he wished he had considered upon his entry into the business.

"The gym," Nadine looked up from the chart, "His appointment with Dr. Bayard was rescheduled twice due to emergency surgeries so they moved his physical therapy to this morning."

"Thanks," Jason smiled and then backed away from the Nurses station where he took one last glance at Elizabeth, a glance that would have to last him until his next encounter with her. He could see it in her eyes, the pain she felt being so close to him yet so far apart. The agony his heart felt was enough to reassure him that was doing the right thing. Despite how much he needed Damian Spinelli as his wingman and his best friend, he knew someone else was going to need him much more than him and there was no way Jason Morgan was going to rob him of fatherhood just because he had been.

**---Disturbia---**

Leyla Mir came to Port Charles to become a doctor, but so far her ability to manage medicine with a personal life had proved to be an impossible task. Her disastrous relationship with Patrick Drake was her excuse not to date anyone on the staff of General Hospital, but it wasn't her excuse to ignore patients.

She clutched the folder pressed up against her chest as she stared at Spinelli. He was the man that had befriended her, that had defended her honor and now he was the man that held a special place in her heart. How lucky Maxie Jones was to have him.

_What's wrong with me?_ She asked herself for he had a girl friend and she certainly did not want to fall in the same trap she had with Patrick. _Why do I feel like this?_ She turned away from the window hoping that if she wasn't gawking at his muscular body that maybe she'd be able to walk away from what could never be. The only miscalculation in her plan was that he had already seen her.

She watched as he came to a stop in the doorway leaning on the doorframe, "Were you going to say hi Nurse Mir?" He crossed his arms, smiling.

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

_Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum_

"Um," her fingers tightened around the folder, "I just, I heard what happened and I…"

"I'm fine," he slightly raised his voice with a cocky smile.

"Of course you are," she laughed nervously, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. I'll leave you alone." She quickly turned away from him fearing she had offended him by the gossip she overheard in the locker room.

"Wait."

She felt his tug on her arm and gazed up at him, his gentle eyes looked down upon hers, those blue eyes she wished would look into hers more often, "I'm sorry Mr. Spinelli."

"Can we talk?" She heard him say and she helplessly nodded.

He could have led her into the gym without holding her hand, but when he did, when he sweetly turned his back to her and held her hand from behind, her blind affection for him couldn't stop her from seeing what was really going on.

"The Jackal knows you're working," he stopped at the bench and faced her.

"No it's okay, I'm on my break Spinelli," she smiled back at him, innocently touching his arm.

"Alright," he smiled before running his hand through his hair and then placing his hands on his hips, "Well," he sat down.

She looked down at him seeing something was obviously on his mind, "Are you okay?"

"Ye-ah," he expressed with a small smile in the corner of his mouth, "I feel great," he moved his hand to his pocket, "I finally got something to deal with the pain," he grinned like a little child, "It's gone Leyla, the Jackal's pain is…is none existent."

"I told you we'd find something," she playfully bumped into his arm, "I'm so happy for you."

When he slowly nodded, the smile on his face faded, she could see that his good news didn't mean anything to him, "Spinelli?"

She watched as he stared into the distance as if caught up in a memory that brought somber to his face, "Spinelli?"

"Oh sorry," he looked back at her genuinely apologizing, "The Jackal was just thinking," he looked away from her where he leaned his elbows on his knees, "Just thinking."

She sat there in silence wondering if she should say something or if she should leave him in peace. When she made her decision he grabbed her hand when it appeared she was leaving him, "Don't."

Her eyes locked on his and for one whole minute she knew what he was thinking, he wanted her to stay, stay unlike those around him who had left.

"I'm sorry," he apologized letting go of her hand. He looked away from her and stared down at the ground, "Leyla, do you remember…do you remember that night you found me on the docks?"

She warmly smiled, her cheeks growing pink, "How could I forget?" She grabbed his hand; "You came to my rescue like a knight in shinning armor."

"That I did," he chuckled.

"And you defended my honor which resulted in your arrest," she teased him as that evening reminisced in their mind, "You're a good friend."

"As are you," he softly smiled, "But the Jackal wasn't the only one that did a bit of rescuing that night."

"Spinelli I didn't do anything. You were just...looking out at the harbor when I came…" Her voice faded out, as he interrupted, "No the Jackal as usual was feeling sorry for his inability to tame the blonde ones heart."

There was a bitterness stricken on his face that confused her, "But you and Maxie and are together now? Right?" She hated questioning this because of course they were together; they were all over the newspaper and the television news Saturday and Sunday night, she saw them at the concert, they were definitely together.

"Um," he stumbled not thinking about the question she just asked and instead was trying to make a decision about something else, "Um, how worried was the Fair Maximista when the Jackal was brutally wounded by the evil doers?"

"She was terrified, we all were."

"We?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah Nadine, Robin, Carly, Mr. Morgan, Lulu I'm sure."

"Were you?"

She couldn't bear to look at him. She was suddenly afraid that if he saw her blush or even see a certain look in her eyes that he would know that while she took care of him as his attending nurse, she fell in love with him.

"Of-Of course I was."

"Can you look at me fair Leyla and whisper those same words to me?"

She slowly gazed up at him, "Of course I was worried. Suddenly my knight in shinning armor was no longer shinning."

She could see this look in his eyes and suddenly felt embarrassed; she had said too much, "Um I have to go."

She quickly stood up from the bench knowing he was still confused, still thinking about what she said, "I'm a stupid woman."

_Release me from this curse I'm in_

"No, Leyla wait!"

Like any girl completely embarrassed by sharing her feelings, she wanted to run out of the gym forgetting she had even stopped by, but she realized her task was going to be a little more difficult considering she left the folder she came in with, on the bench.

"Leyla wait! You forgot…" His speech was caught off as she abruptly turned around only for him to bump into her and for the two to graciously fall to the mat.

She saw papers slowly fall to the grown, but was more distracted by the arm wrapped tightly around her waist and the hand that was pushing her hair out of her face.

"Is-N-nurse Le-yla okay?" He expressed mild discomfort.

"I should be asking you that," she wandered her eyes to his shoulder.

"The Jackal asked you first," he smirked.

"Looks like my knight in shining armor came to my rescue again," she softly smiled having no idea what was going to happen next, but just hopped it wouldn't end here.

He giggled, "The Jackal's timing is impeccable."

"I'll say," she smiled giddily.

_Trying to remain tame_, _he's got a girlfriend, he's in love with her, but I'm struggling oh please kiss me, choose me Spinelli._

She stared at his blue eyes that were searching hers for an answer to the question he was about to ask, "Why didn't you visit the jackal when you were off duty?"

"Because, she was there." Leyla simply said knowing that maybe her confession might some how open his eyes to the brilliant man she saw before her, the man that didn't need to change to be her perfect guy.

She didn't exactly understand why after she said that he broke eye contact, but before she could see what he was looking at, he pulled her into a kiss.

_If you can go,oh,oh,oh, uh ho_

_I think I'm going to oh, oh, oh_

**--- This is all I can take, this is how a heartbreaks ---**

She saw the look in his eyes. The grin on his face before he did it, her fears had at last come true.

Maxie Jones stood in the doorway of the gym, dumfounded. As much as her mind screamed to her that this wasn't the man she fell in love with, her heart told her a much different story.

_Promise me, you'll love again._

His sacrifice was thought to be the end, but the second he spoke her name…

_Max-i-mis-ta?_

It was only the beginning.

_You were there willing me to get better and to try harder and to be the person that I wasn't sure I could be, Maxie, that, is love._

She believed it was and now, now it was nothing.

"How could you?"

The saddest part was, she never saw it coming. She never saw the anguish that he was about to vanquish. She never saw it coming, yet, she should have because she was directly responsible for it.

**---You give love a bad name---**

He wanted her to hurt, but when he glanced up at the sound of her reaction, for some reason, the tear he saw trickle down her cheek, the tear he had placed, made the vengeance less sweetening.

"Maxie wait!" Spinelli shouted as she left his sight.

He looked back down at Leyla having no idea what to say, but she said it all for him, "That was all for her, wasn't it?"

"I'm sorry, I should have never kissed you," he regrettably told her knowing the apology meant nothing, but he couldn't think about the ramifications that affection would have on their relationship, he had to think about the ramifications it would have on his relationship with fair Maximista.

Sprinting out of the gym he repeatedly shouted, "Maxie it's not what you think!"

In the distance of twenty feet or so he could see her hand wave back at him like she didn't care about an explanation, but who said he was going to give her one?

"Maxie!" He harshly shouted her name as he caught up to her in the main room of the floor.

His presence had startled the room, mainly Elizabeth, Nadine and Robin at the Nurse's station who all jumped when he shouted her name.

"Maxie wait," he calmly said her name while putting his hands on his hips.

There was eeriness in the air, the silence between them in the 3 minutes that he waited for her attention. He waited and he waited and then there was no more waiting. There was no longer the patience or the understanding to accept her behavior, there was no longer Spinelli. No, just anger, frustration, and hurt. The reporter standing at the back of the room took his notepad out and began scribbling notes on what would be tomorrow's hottest story. He would capture the snapping of Damian Spinelli's mind, the spiraling of his appearance and the heart that couldn't bear to break anymore.

A sinister giggle weaseled out of his widely grinned mouth, "It was easy."

He smirked that everyone's attention was on him, he could humiliate her now, hurt her, and not let a little tear stop him from his damning acts of revenge.

He crossed his arms, "It was so easy Ms. Jones," he glanced up at the ceiling while opening his mouth in a still laughing, "Easiest decision I've ever had to make," he paused before glancing down at her figure that was hesitantly turning to him.

"Oh, besides saving your life that is," he nodded, "You do remember that I saved your life, right? That all this," he motioned his hands, "Seeing your cousin," he gave Robin a wicked glare as with Elizabeth, "Or your worst enemy besides my bff Lulu who is as usual not here." He chuckled at the ironic of her promises that remained unfulfilled.

The elevator chimed and out walked Sam McCall, who realized instantaneously that something bigger than just her findings of the recent drug ring surround the clinic and the hospital, was going on.

"So nice of you to join us," Spinelli clapped his hands while walking towards Maxie, "Watch as I explain to Ms. Maximista Jones," he stopped just beside her, "How it was easy for me to kiss Nurse Mir."

"Spinelli," Sam nervously grinned seeing Maxie's uncomfortable expression to be near him, "Are you feeling okay today?" Sam asked for she had never seen this jokingly dark man before.

"I'm feeling great!" He reached into his pockets, "I finally got something for the pain," he laughed as he twisted the top and popped two pills in his mouth.

His teeth crunched the little white pills where he rolled his eyes in a daze, "Aw."

"Your high," Maxie said slowly, perhaps this was the reason he was acting out of character.

"Ha," he laughed, "Haaaaaaaaa." He let out a short, but evil howl where he glared at her seriously, "No Maxie I am quite sober and you know what?" He looked up at Sam, "The Jackal feels better now then he's ever felt before," he looked away from Sam to Maxie's eyes, "Even the night we were together."

The torture in her eyes as he said that statement was the fuel he needed to continue on even if it had secretly tortured himself to say it, "You have the nerve to make the Jackal feel bad for one meaningless kiss after what you did to him?"

"After what I did to you?" Maxie could barely finished her confused question when he yelped, "Don't!"

His eyes hurtfully glared at her, "Don't lie to me Maxie, it's the one thing that's keeping you from being like everyone else."

"Spin," he heard Robin quietly say his name, but he ignored her whimpered voice and continued to look dead on at Maxie, "You want to know how I could do that to?" He nodded like she was finally going to get her answer.

"Like I said before," he looked left and then right before smugly setting his eyes on her, "it's easy, IT'S EASY!" He raised his voice to a rage that even he didn't expect to come out as loud as it did.

The hurt from inside his crackling heart bled through his cheeks, his fists, his mouth, "IT'S EASY when you go behind my back and ASK Jason to fire me!"

He saw the innocence leave her face and he realized as her eyes grew wide as the guilt flooded her face like quick sand, that his sources that his evidence had convicted her in his court of justice.

In a gentle hush tone, he sadly looked at her, nodding disappointedly, "How could you do that to me?"

"I didn't," she touched his chest, "Spinelli please." She glanced up at him with a thousand more tears drowning her face, "Let me explain."'

He hurtfully searched her eyes for a reason to why his heart broke this afternoon, but all he saw now was a whiny blonde one who rightfully deserved to have her old name back, "The Jackal never wants to see the Bad blonde one again."

He took her hands from his chest and brought them to his lips where his salty tears drenched her knuckles and then he pushed them away, "You left me no choice."

"No, listen to me," she away from their joining hand, "Spinelli don't do this."

He bit his lip, "I'm undoing it." He looked at his hand that was still holding hers, _damn it let go._

"I'm not gonna let go," she looked at him to contemplate this.

"That's why I'm going to," he dropped her hand from his grip and slowly backed away from her.

He ran his hands through his hair as his crumbled up emotions formed indents on his face. He nodded with disgust and then turned away from her where he could hear her heels chasing after him, "Spinelli I know your upset, but let's talk about this."

"Talk about this?" He chuckled as he swiftly turned around to face her, "There's nothing to talk about!"

"You-you have it all wrong," she hesitantly said for she was afraid he'd react by yelling at her louder.

Spinelli laughed in disbelief, "Do you think I want to do this? Do you think that this isn't hard on me? It's hard on me Maxie," he softly looked at her, "I saw the security tape and I talked to Milo, you were there."

"Fine," she wiped her cheek before crossing her arms, "You're right. I told him I was afraid for you that I was scared and that I wanted him to back off, but I never asked him to fire you."

"No you just hinted it, you plotted it in his mind and you struck a nerve in his heart, using yourself as the victim? Didn't you?"

She disappointedly nodded her head, "I can't believe you."

Spinelli nodded, taking in her words, but it didn't stop him from saying the rest of his, "You told him that he was the reason you've lost everyone in your life, didn't you? And that if he was really sorry for Jesse and Georgie, that he would fire me."

**---Love in the afternoon---**

Maxie couldn't believe the words that the man she loved before her, was speaking. She believed Lulu when she said that Spinelli loved her more than she loved Jason, but the way he was reacting, broke her heart. It broke her heart, which was why he deserved her fierce hand on his cheek.

"I never asked him to fire you!" She shouted as he favored his tender cheek, "Alright! I would never do that because I know how much he means to you!"

"But what I never thought was that he meant more to you than me," she bit her lip before wiping her hand with tears.

Before he could even respond she explained further, "I asked him to save your life because I don't want to lose another person I love!"

"And you're not gonna lose me like you lost them," he softly said as he stood in front of her now.

"I did Spinelli! I did!" She wiped the tears from her eyes, "I lost you that day."

"I'm right here Maxie, you didn't lose me, but the way you're acting," he looked away from her not knowing what to make of her recent behavior.

"You died for many long minutes that day, minutes that I don't want to ever experience with you again," she hesitantly raised her hand to touch the tender cheek she slapped.

She gently ran her thumb over the chaffed skin, "I'm sorry that it took me so long to realize what I had in front of me, but I am not sorry for realizing what I want to keep in my life," she looked into the direction of his eyes as her hand rose to his brown hair.

When he gazed into her eyes she whispered, "And that's you. I want you. Please don't punish me for that."

He intently stared at her, "Maxie…" He sternly said her name that gave her the impression that this didn't change anything.

She determinedly looked in his eyes, pulling his focus to her with both her hands, "No. I did this because if I'm gonna lose you, it's going to be because you walk away or because I hate your guts or because one of us did something unforgivable and maybe I have, but you know what I don't care because the one thing I am not gonna do is put somebody else I love in the grave."

**---Crash---**

Epiphany Johnson walked into the room wondering why everyone was still as in not working, "What is going on!" She exclaimed and suddenly the staff looked at her.

"Let me remind you people we run a hospital not a soap opera," she glanced at where the drama was coming from.

"Please take this somewhere else you two," Epiphany said as she walked towards the Nurses station.

"Nurse Webber," Epiphany looked away from the two young adults who were obviously having their first of many fights, only she didn't know how serious the fight had been.

Spinelli looked away from Epiphany to Maxie who was smiling in part by Epiphany's comments, but also at the fact that she believed she had won him back, "Come on." He removed her hands from his cheeks and walked her out of the main room to a quiet hallway.

She wasn't sure what was going on, but she thought they were in the process of reconciliation.

"Maxie," he looked down at her hands before taking a deep breath and glancing up at her, "I want you to understand that while you're intentions may have been genuine they were also deceitful."

"Spinelli," she squeezed his hands wanting to change his mind, which now felt like it was inevitable.

He felt for her. He understood her secret pain and how her mind had been warped of love. He wouldn't dare punish her for that. No, the break up was about something else.

"Maxie," he cupped her cheek, "It's not that you talked to Jason that bothers me, I mean it does, but the bigger issue at hand is the fact that you didn't talk to me."

"But I'm talking to you now," Maxie interrupted in a panic.

He moved his hand from her cheek to push a blonde curl out of her hair, "After I threaten, no, break up with you."

She could feel his hand slowly sliding from her temple down towards her cheek and soon away from her, "But."

Her hand dangled in his by their waists, "But Maxie, I'm tired of this."

"This is the third time that we've come close to ending our relationship over your refusal to be honest with me. I can't keep doing this, I'm sorry, but this was a mistake," he let go of her hand wising it didn't have to be like this, wishing that their friendship could have remained intact while being in a romantic relationship.

"Please Spinelli," she looked at him wondering what she could say or do to change his mind. She knew she could tell him about the baby, but she wanted Spinelli to love her, for them to have a relationship because they belong together, not because it was an obligation.

He nodded 'no' as he backed away from her where once he turned away he closed his eyes, completely torn.

_No,_ she told herself, they weren't gonna end like this, if she needed to tell him the absolute truth to hang onto him then so be it.

Each step towards the gym as he walked down the hall, knowing she was still behind him, pained him more than ever. He could feel his insides; his lungs ache as his tears choked his breathing. He wanted to return to the gym and take his hurt and frustration and compound it into a bar fight. Little did he know that the bar fight was just around the corner.

"Watch where you're going!" Dr. Hunter annoyingly said after they bumped into each other.

"Why don't you look up from your chart doctor," Spinelli glared at him wondering why Dr. Doom wouldn't take more responsibility for his actions.

The two warily looked at each other until they heard Maxie's whine, "Spinelli!"

Maxie looked at the stares the two males were giving one another, "Spinelli."

Spinelli looked away from Matt, "Maximista please."

Matt walked away not wanting to get caught up in the twit's drama for he found her to be most irritating.

As Spinelli turned away from her she tugged on his arm, "There's something I have to tell you."

"NO!" He quickly turned to her, his other hand grabbing the arm the arm that she had grabbed, "I don't want to talk to you now!"

"Spinelli," she glanced down at her arm that he was tightly squeezing.

"If you want me to keep my promise that we'd always be friends then you need to leave me alone!"

She tried to use her other arm to pull him off of her, but that only irritated him further, "Jason was like a brother to me, he was like my father and you, you took that away from me!" He roughly pulled her to face him where he saw her face and he suddenly realized what he had done.

"Ow Spinelli," she whined as he aggressively stared her down.

Scared, she calmly tried to take him down, "Spinelli you're hurting me."

He stared on through until something changed and the force that had suddenly taken over him was no longer approving of his current predicament and neither was his heart, no matter how much he despised her presence at this moment, attacking her was not the answer.

"Let go of her," Matt walked from the corner.

"Dr. Doom this is not…" Spinelli tried to explain as he loosened his grip on Maxie.

"Let go of her now!" Matt yelled.

His sudden outburst frightened Spinelli to where he instantly let go of her, "Maxie I don't know what," he tried to apologize when he saw something that confused him.

"Here let me see," Matt took a look at her arm, "Are you okay?" He looked into her eyes as he gently felt around the area.

"Ye-ah," she nervously looked at him.

Matt softly smiled at her, "This is going to bruise, you should put some ice on it."

"No, it's okay, he didn't mean to," she whispered to Matt who glared at her like there was no excuse for it.

Matt turned away from her, putting himself between them, "What's wrong with you?"

"It was an accident Matt," Maxie touched his arm hoping to get his attention to calm down.

Spinelli once again took notice of the touch, he thought she couldn't even stand him, now she didn't mind to touch him?

"You think it's okay to hit a woman?" Matt walked toward him.

"Most assuredly no Dr. Doom," Spinelli nervously ranted out as his mind was trying to get over what he just saw, actions that confused him, his feelings, the argument they just had.

"Here's what's going to happen," Matt walked towards him, "You are going to walk away and if I find you in this same position again or if she has one bruise on her, I'll tell Mac."

"Matt no," Maxie quickly looked at him, tugging his arm to calm him down. "He didn't know what he was doing, it's happened before…"

"What?" He looked back at her completely appalled where as she tried to explain he quickly turned to Spinelli, "You son of a bitch!" He lunged at Spinelli grabbing him by his white shirt and pushing up against the wall.

"Matt!" Maxie screamed, "It was because he was in pain."

Matt gazed up at him so she was no longer in the corner of his eye, "You work for Jason Morgan don't you?"

"I used to you," Spinelli glared down at Maxie, not appreciative of the way her words sent her sudden friend on him.

"Don't look at her!" Matt pushed him harder against the wall where he pulled him off and punched him in the jaw.

"Stop it!" Maxie shouted, but Matt ignored her.

"Come on tough guy!" Matt grabbed him where he kneed him in the ribs sending Spinelli to the floor.

Spinelli held his stomach while feeling the taste of pennies in his mouth, blood drizzled down his cheek and he looked up at Maxie wondering if she was happy now.

"Spinelli," she worryingly looked at him placing her hands over her mouth in a prayer position.

Matt walked towards him, "And this is a reminder if it happens again," he kneed Spinelli in his right shoulder sending waves of pain, "ARRGGG." He yelled as the medication that had resolved his pain earlier, seemed to have gone away.

"Spinelli," Maxie pushed Matt out of the way and ran towards Spinelli who was hunched over with his elbows on the floor, spitting out blood.

"Are you okay?" She cupped his cheek.

Spinelli looked up at her as she began to wipe away the blood, "Since when is Dr. Matt Hunter a good friend of yours?"

"He's not," she honestly eyed.

"You know I'm having a hard time believing you," he looked into his eyes as he leaned up from his elbows.

"Spin," she stared at him wondering what he was insinuating.

He slowly got off his knees where he felt her touch to help him up, "I think you've helped me enough for one day."

She hurtfully stared at him as he pulled himself up, "Spinelli…"

Spinelli wiped the blood from his lips, "Alright, fair fight Hunter," Spinelli walked towards him, "Thank you for coming when you did, the Jackal would never forgive himself if he hurt his fair Maximista."

Spinelli stopped right in front of him, "I deserved that, I mean I don't think I deserved to have my shoulder fucked up again," he glanced at Maxie, "Thank you."

"Spinelli I didn't know," she nodded wishing she could take back what just happened.

"Hey don't apologize," Matt told her, "He hurt you."

Spinelli gritted his teeth, but knew while Maximista was his distraction it was also Matt Hunter's and therefore round two. Ding. Ding. Ding.

He knew his shoulder was going to hurt like it never hurt before, but he couldn't stand having Dr. Doom, the man who thought there was something wrong him, he couldn't stand him talking down to him or taking interest in Maxie.

He formed his fist into a ball and threw his clenched hand into his cheek where from there he swung his hand into his chest and when Matt hunched over Spinelli clasped both his hands and decked him on the back.

"Spinelli!" Maxie looked at him to stop.

Spinelli grabbed the collar of his doctor's coat, "And when my shoulder is all better, the Jackal will make sure you feel the amount of pain he's in right now."

"Why don't you take it like a man," Matt spat out and before Maxie knew it there was a full on fist fight going on.

"Stop it!" Maxie screeched until she heard two voices, Patrick and Johnny.

"Break it up!" Patrick yelled as he grabbed Matt.

"Give it up Spin!" Johnny shouted with a slight laugh as Spinelli seemed to keep throwing the punching motion.

"Okay, okay," Patrick shoved Matt up against the wall, "The fight is over!"

Johnny looked at Spinelli who was clinging onto him for dear life, like he couldn't stand up without him, "john…" Spinelli slowly rolled his eyes up at him, "Get me outta here."

Johnny nodded instantly, "Sure thing, where's the gym?"

Spinelli could barely lift his hand up to point, "down there…"

"Alright," he looked away from Spinelli to Maxie, "What happened?"

Patrick looked at Maxie wanting to know same thing, but she stayed quiet as did Matt and Spinelli.

"Fine," Patrick uttered, "I have a surgery I need to scrub in, don't let me regret leaving you here."

Matt nodded, "I'll be fine Brilliant doctor Drake."

Patrick annoyingly glared at him before taking off, leaving the three young adults to deal with the mess.

"Spinelli are you…"

"God!" Matt quietly shouted, "Why do you still care about him! Look at him he can't even stand!"

Johnny immediately jumped to his defense, "Yeah he can't stand because you messed up his shoulder you jackass."

"You know what? He deserved it."

"No he didn't," Maxie walked towards Matt, "You know for one second I thought there was something beyond the doctor who sucks at bedside manner, but there isn't."

"Oh right," Matt reached for his handkerchief, "Here I was trying to protect you from the guy who god knows what he was going to do next, but no you're right I'm the bad guy."

Johnny watched along with Spinelli as the two bickered, "Spin hey."

Spinelli slowly looked up at him, "What were you doing here?"

"I was going to see if you wanted a drink," Johnny reached for his handkerchief, "Talk to you about Lulu and something I noticed about Maxie."

Spinelli's eyebrow perked up as he took the handkerchief from him, "What do you mean?"

Johnny glanced up at Maxie who was still bickering with Matt, "She didn't exactly like your touch at the concert."

Spinelli wiped his mouth, "What?"

"I'm sorry man," Johnny looked down, "From what I could see, she barely wanted you to touch her, I was going to suggest that maybe she was using you for money, but I wanted to ask Lulu first, but she's not returning my calls."

Spinelli looked away from Maxie, her fired personality that was all over his iceberg, "What do you mean you haven't heard from Lulu?"

"I think I scared her," Johnny explained while he wrapped Spinelli's good arm around his neck, "I proposed and she didn't say yes."

Spinelli dabbed his nose before looking up at Maxie, she didn't even seem to notice or be concerned with him, "John I can't bare to look at her anymore."

"Okay, I'll get you out of here," he wrapped his hand around his waist, "hang on."

Spinelli held on tight to the handkerchief, but the minute they started moving Spinelli felt a jolt through his body, "Something's wrong John."

"Spin?" Maxie slowly glanced at him knowing she had heard their movement.

"Don't," Spinelli raised his voice, "Stay the hell away from me."

"Spinelli," she motioned towards him wanting to help him.

"The Jackal," Spinelli paused his words spitting blood on the floor, "I've…" He looked up at her, "Decided."

"We're over," he looked down closing his eyes, "Shit…" He clenched his jaw wanting to cry.

"Spin I can help…" She wandered over to him where Johnny looked up from Spin's pale face, "Yeah? How you gonna do that? Look at what you and your affair did to him."

"What?" She looked at John wondering if he was serious, "Spinelli I swear there is nothing going on."

Spinelli chuckled opening his eyes, "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn."

"Spinelli you—you have to believe me."

"Well it looks like he doesn't," Johnny scolded her, "Come on Spinelli."

Maxie watched in horror as the man she loved was carried off without wanting her help, how was she ever going to tell him now?

"So you want to hit the supply closet?" Matt smirked until her hand slapped his face, "No you asshole!"

"You just ruined the best thing in my life and if I don't get him back, you're never going to practice medicine again." She stormed off having no idea where to go or to whose shoulder she could cry on.

**---I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship---**

Johnny Zacchara never had a best friend. He never had a buddy to racecars with or a guy to discuss chicks with, he never had anyone, but the limited times he was with his sister to develop any sense of bondage with.

"Here you go," Johnny set him down on the bench.

" Thanks," Spinelli ran his hand over his ribs, "Can you pass me my water bottle?" Spinelli pointed to his bag, "Aw Holy water of the gods."

Johnny stood there as Spinelli tried to drink something, but after a few sips Spinelli a look gushed over his face, "Hey are you okay?"

Spinelli was silent at first, but signaled to John to give him a second.

"So you and Maxie are over?" Johnny tried to start up a conversation.

Spinelli nodded, "I'll tell you—oh hang on," Spinelli pushed himself off the bench to the large garbage can near Johnny.

"Spinelli," Johnny scarcely looked at him, "You don't look so good, maybe I should call Leyla or Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth, Leyla hates me," Spinelli grasped the outsides of the trash can, "See…I…" Spinelli attempted to drink some water, "I kissed her to make Maxie jealous."

Johnny crossed his arms grinning where Spinelli looked at him, "What?"

"I can't picture you as a player or a fighter, just not that kind of guy," Johnny honestly told him.

"Well," Spinelli raised his eyebrows, "Rub me the wrong way and I'll be that bad guy—ooooh…"

Spinelli leaned over the trashcan again to throw up.

"I'm calling Elizabeth or someone,"

"No," Spinelli wiped his lips where he leaned on the wall next to him, "I think I'm okay, I've been feeling like this all day and all day yesterday."

"Spinelli you look really…"

"Try Vista Pointe," Spinelli drenched the water bottle over him.

"I looked there."

"No there's this place just beyond Vista Point, it's a little quieter, but it reminds her of her parents, if you can't get in touch with her, that's where she is."

Johnny looked at him puzzled, "How do you know?"

Spinelli rubbed his temple, "When she found out her father raped her mother, she went there, I found her there."

"Spinelli do you have a headache?" Johnny was for some reason keeping note of all his symptoms.

"Sort of," Spinelli looked up at him, "Anyway don't take it personal if she doesn't say yes."

"How am I supposed to take it?" He honestly looked at him, "It's like she threw it back in my face."

"Hey she loves you that's more I can say about Maxie," Spinelli threw the water bottle in the trashcan.

He leaned off the wall, "I mean at least Lulu never asked your boss to fire you or lie to you about her feelings or a possibly pregnancy or…"

"Spinelli?" Johnny could see his eyes begin to role, "Spinelli!" He wished he had been quick enough to stop Spinelli from hitting his head on the bench but he wasn't.

"Spinelli!" Johnny bent down to his side, "Get me some help!" Johnny shouted as he grabbed Spinelli by the chin and gently slapped his cheeks, "Hey Spin!"

Johnny frantically looked away from him wondering where his help was, "My name is Johnny Zacchara, get me a goddam doctor before I sue this hospital!"

No, Johnny had never had a genuine friend until Damian Spinelli. Not only had he convinced Jason not to kill him, but he had helped him with Lulu many occasions. What had he done for Spinelli? Even the odds a few times in a fight? Give him a million dollars? Helped him as much as he could to planning the perfect date with Maxie? Whatever he had done, Johnny felt it wasn't enough.

"Spin wake up, okay buddy?" Johnny paused when Jimmy, Spinelli's substitute gym leader for the day ran to his side, "I called the nurses station someone should be up here in minutes."

Johnny nodded, "Get me a water bottle," Johnny ordered before looking back at Spinelli, "Spinelli help is on the way."

**---The way we were---**

Jason Morgan grumpily sat in his office. He looked around the room feeling the loss of his trusted computer techie.

"Boss," Cody disturbed his peace.

"What?" Jason eyed him.

"You have a visitor," Cody moved away from the door to reveal an old friend.

Jason motioned his approval, "Come in."

"Thank you Cody," she nodded her head goodbye to him before him.

The door closed behind her and she walked towards him, "Is he new? I've seen him around the hospital with Lainey."

Jason nodded, "Yeah, so I see no coffee in your hand so I assume this is about something else Robin?" He pushed his paperwork aside.

"Jase, do you remember the first time we broke up?" She asked him still standing up remembering the bittersweet moment between them.

Jason looked away from her, "Yes I remember."

Robin slowly walked over to the chair across his desk and sat in it, "Jase…" She softly called his name wanting him to look at her, "It's as if I just relieved that."

He didn't want to look at her because he felt the same thing. All those years ago, more than a decade ago he loved the woman in front of him, he loved her until one day she requested Sonny fire her.

"It's better this way," Jason cleared his throat.

"Jason, Spinelli broke up with Maxie."

Jason glanced up at her, "I never mentioned who came to my office. I swear Robin, I didn't tell him."

Robin warmly smiled, "Sonny didn't tell you either. He never said I asked him to fire you, but you knew."

"You were the only person who Sonny would do it for," he honestly looked at her, but not to bring up bitter memories, they were past what happened.

Robin grunted, "After all these years you still believe that?"

"Isn't that why you're here telling me about them? To say that I'm like Sonny in this situation, you are Maxie and Spinelli is myself?" Jason plainly looked at her, he wasn't blindsided.

"Maybe I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be that way, it doesn't have to end for them like it did for us," she reached over and touched his hand.

It still surprised him how after all these years the affect he had on her, "I don't want Spinelli to grow up feeling the way I do every morning."

"Jase," Robin frowned.

"Michael…He proved to me that no one is safe, Robin," he looked up at her trying not show his secret pain of emotions, "I never knew I wanted a family at Spinelli's age and I don't want him wishing someone had told him it was going to be too dangerous."

"Will he understand that?" Robin grazed his hand, "Because he loves you. I just watched him humiliate her at the hospital, he tore her to shreds."

Jason tenderly squeezed her hand, "You know what the greatest thing about us was?"

There were many great things about them. She couldn't just pick one. She didn't even know where to start.

"You were always honest with me," he answered his own question.

"Maybe too honest," she remembered the truth she told that broke them forever.

Jason nodded, "No Robin. You were right to tell AJ the truth and I should have never asked you to keep that secret in the first place. AJ deserved to raise his own son."

He was never quite honest with her before, sure they had forgiven each other for all the wrong doings, but something was different this time around.

"Jason?"

"We were honest with each other about everything, but Spinelli and Maxie? They had problems before this," he removed his hand from hers to get up from the chair.

He walked to the mirror of his office looking at himself, "Like Carly and I," he looked over at Robin, "They're great at friendship. He's there for her, she's there for him, they have each other's backs."

"I sense a but," Robin sweetly smiled.

Jason looked back at the mirror, "They lack honesty Robin. Deciding to be more than friends raises the stakes. Truths that wouldn't have been a big deal suddenly are."

Robin slowly got up from the chair to touch Jason's shoulder, "I don't think they know how to do both, be friends and love each other at the same time."

Jason grimaced the window, "I suppose, I just think it's about trust. It's a lot easier to love a friend than to love..."

"Boss," Cody opened the door, not meaning to interrupt what was a close conversation, "Elizabeth Webber is here to see you."

Robin looked up to see anxiety written all of Jason's face, "than to love the mother of your child?"

Jason slowly glanced down at her speechless, but Robin warmly smiled at him, "This is one secret you don't have to worry about me spilling."

"How did you know?"

"His eyes, no one but Laura has blue eyes and Elizabeth's aren't nearly as blue as yours."

"Lucky and Sam know," Jason told her even though she said she wouldn't tell anyone.

"I'm glad," she smiled with a slight frown. She was glad that perhaps Jason learned from the past, from their experience that keeping the secret of a child's paternity was only going to hurt people in the end.

"Boss?" Cody looked at him for answer.

"Um right," Jason looked up from Robin, "Um one minute."

The door closed and he looked back down at Robin where just as he was about to say something, Robin interrupted, "It's okay."

She patted him on the arm as she backed away to the chair where her purse was, "Do I think that you can still have a family with Elizabeth and raise your son? I'll always believe you deserve those things."

Jason sternly looked at her, "Spinelli deserves them too and Robin, tell Maxie he'll come around, if she tells him what's going on, he'll be thankful for it one day like I should have been."

It tremendously saddened her to see him filled with so much regret in what should be the happiest time of his life.

"Jase," she said as she stopped at the door, "I knew you were thankful."

He nodded in disagreement, "I wasn't."

"You were," she put her hand on the door, "You understood why I did it. You didn't like it, but you understood."

Jason didn't disagree with her, but as she opened the door he called her name, "Robin?"

She looked over to him where he smiled, "Thank you. Thanks for stopping by, it was good to see you."

"I always have time for a friend," she smiled in the corner of her mouth, "Take care Jase."

Jason watched as the woman walked out of his office, the woman who reminded him so much of their history today. When he sat in his office hours earlier and heard the frantic pleading of Maxie, a part of him wondered if Robin expressed the same emotions as she did. When she struggled to say what he knew she meant, he pictured, which he hardly ever did because picturing things was never his way of thinking, but he pictured Robin asking Sonny to fire him and he realized furthermore how difficult it must have been for her. Robin helped him make his sacrifice today. All the people that had come and gone in his life made Jason Morgan's decision easier. There impression on his life made it easy for him to say goodbye to the closest thing he had to a son. It was the end to another chapter of Morgan's tragic life. Unbeknownst to him the epilogue was coming faster than he was ready for.

**---Friends---**

Kate Howard had been called many unpleasant things in her life. The words that Lulu uttered earlier bounced off of her because she knew in the end that Lulu would be back. As much as Lulu and maybe even Maxie hated her, Kate knew that the put downs, the insults, and the punishments she gave on a regular basis were only going to shape these young girls into the young women she knew they could be. Building character. Building strong women to lead the world of Fashion or whatever Lulu wanted to lead in was Kate's goal. The tiny moments of approval she nodded to them or the days off of a job well done or just the simple compliment of the success they helped her achieve was what life was made of. These two women whom she had seen glimpses of their lives, were more than co-workers to her and to one another. They were all friends. Maybe that was wishful thinking on Kate's part because she knew the girls were enemies, but she also knew that when push come to shove, they were there for each other. They weren't close like the gals of Sex and the City, but as Kate talked with Clarice she couldn't help but feel determined to make that bond at lonely desks of her assistants.

"Clarice, get me Lulu Spencer on the phone," she looked up from the folder of the layout.

"But she quit?" Clarice looked at her confused.

"Well find a way to get her on the phone or here in person, she's not going to get away that easy," Kate turned away from her when the elevator doors opened and out walked her first assistant.

"Maxie what are you…" She faintly paused at the light black streaks of eyeliner that had run down her cheeks, "Maxie are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she walked to her desk.

Her unusual quietness was a definite reason to be concerned, "Clarice, cancel my meetings today."

"But Ms. Howard…"

Kate looked at Maxie had folded her hands on her face, "Do it and please ring up Ms. Spencer for me."

"Lulu?" Maxie looked up at her, "Why are you calling Lulu?"

"Step into my office Maxie and no, I'm not firing you," she turned away from her to swing open the doors of her luxurious office.

Kate stood at her desk as Maxie wandered in, "sit."

Kate watched as she nervously sat in the chair and then walked to close the doors to her office, "The reason I'm calling Lulu is because I don't want her to quit."

"You don't?" Maxie turned to look at her as she walked back to her desk and took a seat in her chair.

"No, I was actually quite saddened to see her leave and I know you were too," Kate honestly looked at her with a small smile on her face.

"I'll admit, Lulu and I have gotten along better in the past couple of days then we have in years, but that was only because of Spinelli and now it doesn't matter anymore,"

"It doesn't matter anymore?" Kate leaned back in her chair crossing her arms confusingly.

"No."

Kate looked at her gloomy face, her depressed posture made it impossible for her not to ask, "Maxie is there something you want to talk about? Something personal? I do have minutes to spare until Clarice puts Lulu on the line."

"It's nothing," Maxie wiped her eyes.

Kate slowly got up to sit on the edge of her desk, "It's obviously something when you give me the wrong folders for last hour's business meeting."

She saw look of horror on her face, "It's okay Maxie, Clarice got the right ones to me, but I know you had the right proposals all laid out last week to avoid what happened earlier."

"I'm sorry Kate, it'll never happen again."

"I know it won't because the next time I know you have something going on in your life that's consuming your thoughts at work, I won't trust you to put it together," Kate hated to reprimand her like that.

"Had I known what those watermarks on your cheeks were about, I would have had someone double check your efforts," Kate looked away from her to the box of Kleenexes.

Maxie grabbed a Kleenex, but before she could begin to explain Clarice's voice came over the intercom.

"Ms. Howard, I keep getting a voicemail and when I called her homing address at the…Err Quartermaine Mansion, they said they haven't seen her all after noon."

"Hmm, okay thank you," Kate took her finger off the phone, "Do you know where she might be?"

Maxie nodded, "I would say Johnny, but Johnny is at the hospital at least that's where I saw him last, with Sp-Spinelli."

"Something happen with you and Spinelli, Maxie?" Kate concernedly looked at her.

"We, we broke up." Maxie wiped the tears that she felt condescending her in eyes.

"What?" Kate crossed her arms completely surprised.

"And you want to know the worst part?" She chuckled in disbelief where as she rolled her eyes up at the ceiling trying to figure out how to explain her case of bad luck, the doors to Kate's office slowly opened to reveal Robin standing in the door way.

"Not only does he think that I'm the reason for Jason firing him," she paused seeing Kate's shocked expression, "Oh it gets better."

Maxie wiped the Kleenex along her eyes, "But now he thinks I'm having a wild affair with Matt Hunter…"

"What?" Robin squealed like it was the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard.

Maxie slowly glanced at her, but smiled in relief, "Robin!"

Kate softly smiled as Maxie got up from her chair to hug her favorite cousin in scrubs.

"Honey are you okay?" Robin sweetly asked.

"He hates me Robin," she explained as he pulled away from their embracement.

"No he doesn't," she gently touched Maxie's shoulder, "He's just angry and I'm sure that whatever he thinks about you and Matt Hunter will subside once he calms down."

"Yeah," Kate joined in, "Spinelli is a smart guy, he'll retrace his steps and realize his wrong doings."

"I wish I could believe you two, but after Epiphany told us to leave, he ended it saying that I wasn't being honest enough with him."

Robin curiously looked at her thinking of her conversation with Jason, "Is he right?"

Maxie was taken off guard by her cousin's quick judgment, "I—I."

"Maxie," Kate walked over to her, "Is there some way you might have given him a reason to be suspicious of you?"

"Noooo," Maxie jumped to defense, but didn't have an artillery to keep them from ongoing badgering.

"Maxie," Robin eyed her, "I just had an interesting talk with Jason."

Kate gently touched Maxie's back, "Hun, we can't help you until we know what's going on."

Maxie crossed her arms, staring at both of them, "Fine, but you have to promise me you won't tell Spinelli."

"Promise," Kate smiled.

"Girl Scouts honor," Robin held up three fingers.

"Robin you weren't even in girl scouts," Maxie kind of wanted to laugh.

"I know, but stop stalling," Robin looked at her to just let it out.

"Okay," Maxie closed her eyes with her fingers lightly pressing her pupils, "I think..."

"That's a good start," Robin joked and Kate motioned with her hands for Maxie to press on forward.

Maxie opened her eyes slightly giggling, "I think I'm pregnant."

Kate gasped, she wasn't at all expecting that confession, but Robin seemed to be less than surprised.

"He was right!" Robin grinned only to see Maxie's worried expression.

"Who?" Maxie placed her hand on her cheek worried that Spinelli might know, but if he knew he wouldn't have treated her like he had today.

"Well Spinelli didn't tell me he thought you were pregnant, but this morning while he was waiting for Dr. Bayard, he said that you weren't feeling well and the doctor in me of course wanted to diagnose you, but as he was describing your symptoms I just kind of pushed the idea away…Because I thought you two used protection."

Kate watched Maxie's face turn red, "Don't be embarrassed Maxie, I've had my fair share of stories."

"You guys didn't use…" Robin hinted around the subject.

"No!" Maxie whined, "I just wanted to be with him and I think he was so wrapped up in the moment that condom didn't even cross his mind."

Kate could see Maxie needed someone to take control, "Okay, Maxie," she put her hands on both her shoulders, "Pull yourself together!"

"Yes," Robin cheered on, "You need calm down."

"How can I be calm? Spinelli won't even talk to me and if I tell him I'm pregnant he'll probably think it's Matt's and…"

"Maxie?" Kate could see her lost in complexion.

"I'm fine," Maxie looked down with her eyes closed, "I just…"

Robin knew her feeling, "Okay let's sit down…"

"No," she looked up at them before they both could see her losing focus.

"Maxie!" Kate quickly caught her in her arms.

Kate looked at her unconscious face, "Robin will you get Clarice and tell her to get a bottle of water and a pregnancy test from the hotel gift shop.

"Sure thing."

Kate looked back at Robin and dragged her to the couch in her office, "Maxie?" She asked as she slowly propped her on it, "Hun wake up."

**---The lady in Red and the corrupted Medicine Man---**

"Wake up," Dr. Noah Drake asked as he shined a light in Spinelli's unresponsive eyes, "He's out cold still," he turned to Johnny in the hospital room.

"I don't understand what happened?" Johnny rubbed his neck.

"I don't know either," Noah looked away from Spinelli lying in the hospital bed.

"We know now," Matt Hunter walked in with x-rays and Epiphany followed him with tests.

"Oh hell no," Johnny looked at Matt, "You are not going anywhere near him."

Epiphany looked at Johnny, "Well unfortunately there are no other doctors to assist at the time."

"Find one because Matt Hunter just tried to kill Spinelli in the hallway a mere hour ago."

All eyes went to Matt, "We got into a fight, it was no big deal."

"Like hell it was!" Johnny fumed with anger knowing that if other staff members weren't present he'd be kicking the shit of out him.

"JOHN!" He heard the firm voice of his sister in the doorway.

"Claudia," Johnny smiled.

"What happened?" She slowly walked in to see Spinelli lying in the hospital bed.

"This doctor here beat the shit out of him," Johnny clenched his fist.

"Is that right?" Claudia tapped her foot as she turned to him, "Well call the police John, I think this doctor needs to be reported."

"Not so fast," Dr. Noah Drake scarcely said as he looked at the x-rays, "Do you see that?" He pointed for Matt's attention.

"Charts please Epiphany," Matt held his hand out, "Charts please!" He glared up at Epiphany who responded with, "Watch your manners."

Matt ignored her attitude and traced his pen over the areas of concern, "How did Bayard miss this?"

"Mr. Spinelli hasn't seen Dr. Bayard today," Epiphany answered him, "He had emergency surgery so Dr. Bayard gave him his pills and then cleared him for physical therapy."

"Well that was stupid," Noah uttered, "Look at these numbers," he pointed at the charts, "You only get those from…" He looked for Spinelli's belongings, "Where are his pills?"

"But Noah, he was prescribed 500mg of Vicodin," Matt looked at him confused when Noah emptied the remanding pills in his hand.

"Wait, I know what Vicodin looks like," Matt picked up the pill, "This isn't even a pain medication pill."

"Well," Noah looked back down at the other pills, "Let me see the chart again."

Matt inspected each pill, "Epiphany I've seen enough, run a test on these pills, I want to see if they're from the line of bad medication the hospital ordered."

"Woah," Claudia looked at them, "Are you saying Spinelli might have been poison?"

"Not might," Noah looked up at them, "You said he was vomiting earlier?"

"Yeah, it looked pretty bad and he was clutching his stomach," Johnny warned his eyes to Matt knowing part of that clutching was due to the his ribs being kicked.

Noah distraughtly nodded, "Epiphany schedule him for surgery, we'll pump his stomach first and then fix his shoulder, page Dr. Bayard."

"I already did that, he's in surgery and you have surgery in twenty minutes Doctor," Epiphany looked at him to make a decision.

"I could…" Matt whispered.

"What about my son?" Noah closed the folder.

"In surgery as well, I just paged Dr. Scorpio for a car accident victim, the only surgeon available is Dr. Hunter."

"Alright," Noah handed the chart back to Epiphany where just as he was about to order the go, he was distracted by Johnny's objection.

"NO," Johnny raised his voice, "I don't trust him Claud…"

"Hey," Matt raised his voice, "I'm a doctor, what I do on my own time or how I personally feel about a patient will not impact the outcome of the surgery."

Noah looked away from John, "Epiphany who is the listed family, we should contact them ."

"Jason is his listed family," Claudia reached for her phone.

"Not anymore," Epiphany looked up from the charts, "As of ten this morning you, Ms. Zacchara are responsible for Mr. Spinelli."

"That can't be right," Claudia looked at her needing to see the chart.

"It says right here," she showed him all the information.

"There must be a mistake, there's no way…"

"It's not Claud," Johnny interrupted her, "Jason fired him this morning."

"Well what about that wrench Maxie,"

"Don't speak about her like that," Matt warned.

"Don't tell my sister what to do," Johnny threatened, "Claudia, he and Maxie broke up."

Claudia chuckled, "Can't say I didn't see that coming."

Epiphany cleared her throat knowing there were bigger issues at hand, "Ms. Zacchara, is his guardian Dr. Drake, what should we do?"

Noah crossed his arms, "Pump his stomach, I have no doubt that he was suffering from Gastric Irrigation."

"What about the shoulder," Matt looked at the X-rays and the thermal scans, "If we don't clean that bacteria infection, he could lose the entire arm."

"Do the surgery," Claudia immediately ordered despite her brother's protest.

"What?" Johnny looked at her crazy.

"John he might die!" She looked at them, "Is that right?"

"Yes, his body is slowly failing, if we wait it'll be his kidneys and then Liver, once those fail the body will shut down completely."

"Do it," Claudia handed the chart back to Epiphany, "Do whatever you have to do."

"Okay, let's go," Noah motioned to Epiphany and even Matt so he could tell him the order in which to treat Spinelli.

As soon as the doctors left Johnny turned to Claudia, "What are you thinking?"

"John I'm thinking of how to save our friend!" She pointed at Spinelli, "Don't worry about Matt Hunter, I'll take care of him, look why don't you go outside and take a breather."

"Fine," he stormed out of the room believing his sister was about to make a mistake.

"John…" Claudia whined wishing he would trust her, but since her plan to clean up Logan's murder went so poorly she knew his trust in her had definitely gone down a notch.

The door slammed and she slowly turned her focus to Spinelli, "What did he do to you? What did those twits do to you?"

She frowned at his bandaged forehead and cut up lip, "Never again will anyone hurt you."

The door swung open and Matt Hunter nervously looked at her, "I left the x-rays…" He pointed, but Claudia eyed him like prey, "Just don't forget to leave a scalpel in him."

"Ma'am, I don't have anything against Spinelli beside the fact that I saw him lose his temper with Ms. Jones earlier. I saw him attack her, I reacted appropriately in which he took to the next level and I defended myself."

"Whatever," she shrugged her shoulders walking towards him, "I don't care how it happened, but I'll tell you one thing if he dies on your operating table, you'll never practice medicine again."

Matt took the x-ray's off the lights, "Spinelli has probably taken a fourth of his prescribed pills and his shoulder has developed something very similar to flesh eating bacteria. The medicine is there to support his death."

"So you don't care if he dies?" She foolishly looked at him.

"I'm saying that if I lose my license to practice medicine oh well," he backed away to the door, "I was never really much of a doctor anyways, undercover police officer, now that Ms. Zacchara, may be my kind of line of work."

"Why are you telling me this?" She looked at him wondering why he just admitted that.

"Telling you what? I didn't admit anything, I said 'may be my kind of line of work', but until I find out whose selling this bad medication I won't botch my career in medicine, so I will do my best to save his life."

"Do I have your word?"

"Believe me, killing Spinelli would do me no good, it wouldn't even get me his girl. So I will work accordingly and pray that we're not too late," he turned away from her closing the door behind him.

Claudia looked away from the door, "Well I don't like those odds Mr. Hunter." She took her phone out and dialed Trevor Lansing, "First you and Ric are going to prepare a Malpractice suit against General Hospital and then you're going to find me everything you can on Mat Hunter."

**---Pay it forward brought to you by THE MOB---**

Lulu Spencer was the product of a legendary couple that rocked Port Charles and the changed the hearts of every person who ever knew the two. Being there daughter not only meant inheriting heirlooms from crazy adventures or genes of blonde hair and blue eyes or even bad luck in love, but most importantly it meant inheriting connections, instant friendships.

"My name is Sonny Corinthos I'm here to pick up some medication prescribed by Lainey Winter," Sonny smiled at the pretty blonde nurse, "Ms. Crowell…"

She gazed up at him, politely smiling as he leaned against the counter, "I'll be right back."

He watched her walk to the back of the room where medications for pick up were on a cart and grab a little white bag.

"Here you go," she set it on the counter, "Just sign this and you can be on your way."

"Thank you," he unintentionally charmed her with his dimples.

"No prob-." She paused as yelling from the hallway dubbed over her.

"John! You are not gonna call those twits!"

"Spinelli would want them here!"

Sonny looked over to the hallway where he couldn't see Claudia or Johnny, but he knew by their voices and their diction that it was definitely the siblings of the Zaccharas.

"No he wouldn't, remember? I'm his guardian now, not Jason or Maxie or the frigid blond you like to call your fiancé!"

Sonny looked up at Nadine, "are you hearing the same conversation I am?"

"Unfortunately," she frowned as she marked the prescription note.

Sonny grinned at her humor before looking back at the hallway.

"Don't call her that! I love Lulu and she loves Spinelli as does Maxie…"

"Who asked Jason to fire him!"

"ARRHH! You are unbelievable!"

Sonny watched Johnny storm off onto down the other hall and turned to Nadine, "Sheesh brothers and sisters."

"Yeah, although my sister and I always got along, but then again my sister is in a coma for killing people," she shrugged her shoulders leaving Sonny freeze a smile.

"But Spinelli, poor guy," she ripped the receipt, "Loses his job, breaks up with his girl friend and is now in surgery again."

Sonny picked up the pen, "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know," she looked left and then right before leaning in with her hand partially covering the side of her face, "They think he was poisoned by his pain medication."

"Really?" Sonny wandered his eyes to the little white bag.

"Yeah, he's getting his stomach pumped, my Aunt Raylene told me this one time at band camp she and…"

"Nadine?" Sonny smiled politely at the sweet girl who just didn't know when to stop ranting, "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I got to check out." He signed the paper.

"Oh I'm sorry, am I ranting again?"

"Just a little," he folded the receipt in his pocket, winking at her.

"My bad, have a good day," she perked up.

"You too," he grabbed the little white bag before turning away from her and rolling his eyes at the crazy nurse.

The elevator doors opened and as soon as he walked in and the doors closed, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and made a call to someone he knew would appreciate the news.

As he waited for the person to pick up he cautiously stared at the white bag wondering if his pills were tainted too, "Lulu?" Sonny smiled hearing her voice, such a sweet girl his old pal's daughter was, "It's Sonny, look I just came from GH and thought you might want to know that Spinelli was poisoned….Lulu I don't know, but…Lulu all I know is that he was given some bad meds and was rushed back into surgery."

**---Ya Ya Sisterhood---**

Lulu frantically started her car up while trying to dial Maxie's number, "Come on pick up!"

She swerved out of the parking lot going x amount of miles knowing that with her big brother on the road she could probably get away with going a few miles over the speed limit.

"Pick up pick up pick up!" Lulu annoyingly shouted as she swerved in an out of traffic, "I know…" She pressed speed dial to Crimson when she realized that they probably had the answering machines on because of the lack of assistants to answer the phone. There was only one other person she considered calling and that was Johnny.

"Hey John," she started when she realized it was his answering machine and hung up.

She tossed her phone into the other seat, "Yeah cause it makes too much sense to keep your phone on!" She then screamed at the moron who couldn't drive in front of her.

"Come on!" She honked the horn, "Any day now!" She annoyingly watched as other lanes of traffic were moving and hers wasn't.

She looked into the left lane and saw her opening, "Yes!" She turned her signal on and sped into the other lane where as she passed the other car to see what old geyser was a driving snail pace, she saw it was Edward Quartermaine.

"Damn teenagers these days! LULU!!!!" He shouted but Lulu honked her horn at him and made fun of his hat.

She pulled into the Metro Court Valley parking lot and came to a screeching stop, "Keep the engine running!" She threw the keys in his hand, "My name is Lulu Spencer! Carly Jacks cousin!"

Lulu ran into the Metro Court where she saw Carly, but was so excited to see her she didn't notice the table she bumped into, "Ow, damn…"

"Lulu, you okay Hun?" Carly looked at her slightly giggling.

She walked over to her. "Carly not-funny-knee-hurts,"

"What are you doing here?" Carly waved at Jax who was walking over to her.

"Do you know if Kate or Maxie have left the office yet?"

"Um I don't know, Jax Hun!" She motioned to him.

"Well hello Lulu!" He grinned, "Ooh hurt your knee I see, you know we should probably have the table moved."

"Why? I like it there," Carly looked at him.

"But everyone hits their knee on the way in, see," he saw Alexis come in.

"Well that's because Alexis…and Diane are twits!" Carly laughed as they both his their leg, "If they paid attention, but they're so excited to get to the shoes at the boutique…"

Lulu grunted at their bickering, "Okay time out."

Carly and Jax looked at each other where Lulu continued, "Have you seen Maxie leave the office?"

Jax pointed at the elevator he just came from, "She's still there, I was just up there and Maxie and Kate were talking,"

"Okay great! Now you two can go back to arguing!" Lulu limped to the elevator where she heard Jax and Carly continue to rant.

The elevator doors opened to Crimson and she saw Clarice sitting at her desk.

"Lulu!" Clarice excitedly greeted her, "Kate has been trying to reach you all day."

"What? Why?" Lulu looked at her while looking around the room.

"I don't know," Clarice frowned, "Just see her in her office."

"Fine, is Maxie in there?" Lulu quickly asked.

"Yeah," she pointed to Lulu to walk right into her office.

Lulu walked to the front doors and took a deep breath. She had to remember why she was here. She wasn't going to argue with Kate or Maxie. She would present the information and hope that it would make up for earlier because the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her best friend.

Putting her hands on the doorknobs she pushed the doors open to see Maxie lying on the couch on Kate by her bedside.

"Maxie?" Lulu stood in the doorway slightly worried to see her like that, why she cared she didn't know, but maybe she felt like if she had been there the maybe Maxie wouldn't be where she was.

"Lulu," Kate softly smiled, "I've been trying to reach you for the past couple hours.

Lulu walked from the doors, "Yeah I know, I purposely missed your calls," she looked away from Kate to Maxie, "Are you okay?"

Maxie slowly nodded as she pulled herself up, "I just got a little dizzy and kind of fainted."

Lulu stopped two feet from the couch, "How are you feeling now?"

"Pregnant," Kate coughed.

"You took the test?" Lulu smirked a smile.

"No," Kate answered for her, "I can't seem to get her to take the test."

"Guys it's something I have to do with him," she honestly looked at Kate and then panned over to Lulu, "I want him to be there when I find out."

"Maxie," Lulu slowly her name, she wasn't sure how to let her down.

"Lulu I'm sorry about earlier," Maxie quickly apologized as Lulu pulled a stool near the couch.

"And I am too," Kate looked up at Lulu, "I wasn't going to fire you and I'm sorry for making you feel like I some how value Maxie over you. You are both equal at this magazine."

"Thank you Kate, but I was serious about what I said earlier. I don't want to come back."

"Oh come on Lulu," Maxie fixed her position to be sitting regular on the couch, "You said your mom was in fashion."

"Yes, but…"

Kate interrupted her, "But you can still have that connection to her, Lulu, but I don't want to hire anyone else. You're already trained. You know the magazine. I do trust you."

"I'll think about," Lulu smiled where Maxie let out a deep gasp, "Lulu what is there to think about?"

"Maxie," Lulu frowned, "There's something I need to tell you."

Maxie looked at Kate and then up at Lulu, "What is it?"

Lulu looked up from twiddling thumbs, "Sonny just called me."

"He did," Kate smiled at the mentioning of his voice.

Lulu nodded glancing down at her thumbs again, "He was getting his medication when Nadine told him that…"

Maxie searched hers eyes and lost the glimmer in her smile, "Its about Spinelli isn't it?"

Lulu nodded, "He's been re-admitted into the hospital," Lulu glanced up at her, "They think he took some bad medication and…" She glanced back down at her hands.

"Lulu," Maxie softly said her name while her lip trembled, "Look at me."

"They rushed him back into surgery," Lulu scarcely looked up at her, "It's bad Maxie, real bad."

Maxie stared at her slowly taken back, "Like he could die, bad?"

"I don't know," Lulu honestly told her, "I don't know, Sonny just thought I should know."

"Will you drive me there?" Maxie looked at her hoping she would say yes.

"Of course, come on," she helped her off the couch, "Take it easy."

"Thanks," Maxie appreciatively smiled.

"Girls you want company?" Kate look at them, the two who swore they weren't friends yet acted as if they were.

"It's okay Kate and thanks for earlier."

"No problem," she smiled where as the two left her office she hollered, "And Lulu I'll be expecting your phone call!"

"Yeah I suppose…" Lulu smiled sticking her head back in Kate's office.

"That a girl!" Kate clapped before leaning back on her desk, "Good girls right there."

**---The Bachelorette Syndrome of Thelma and Louise---**

Maxie grabbed the armrest in the car as Lulu swerved the car, "Lulu do you think you could not get us into an accident?"

"Maxie do you want us to get there before Spinelli is…on his death bed or something?" Lulu didn't mean it to sound so negative, but it did.

"You really think he might be on his deathbed?" Maxie worryingly bit her lip.

"I don't know, but take bad meds is stomach pumped and I don't know why he would need more surgery," Lulu annoyingly looked back at the traffic.

"I do," Maxie said with a dry throat, "Spinelli lost his temper again today."

Lulu's red Volkswagon beetle came to a stop at the stop light, "He did?" She looked at her, "Did he…hit you?"

"No," Maxie slowly nodded, "It wasn't even as bad as last time, but Matt Hunter…"

"That's the doctor who treated him for the…Asian ague," they both said at the same time.

"Yeah," Maxie nodded, "He misunderstood Spinelli and just started beating down on him and he hit Spinelli really hard in the shoulder."

"That bastard," Lulu put her foot on the gas pedal, feeling the road rage in her.

"It's okay I slapped him," Maxie giggled.

"You did?" Lulu looked at her impressed.

"Of course I did Lulu! That jerk is the reason Spinelli probably won't want to talk to me."

"Why do you say that?" Lulu curiously looked at her.

"Spinelli got the impression through my arguing with Matt that I'm having an affair with him," Maxie looked at her expecting to hear something out of her mouth, "Lulu I'm not."

Lulu intently stared at her, "Just making sure."

"Lulu why would I have an affair? I mean yes things have been rather difficult lately, but I would never throw him away…"

Lulu wanted to cough up "hypocrite", "You did it with Coop when you slept with Logan."

"That was different," Maxie awkwardly looked at her.

"Oh right cause that was your destroy Lulu's life phase," Lulu sarcastically jerked her head at her.

"Lulu do you want to hear the story or not!"

"Yes continue."

"Okay, so Johnny and Patrick break up the fight, which Spinelli put up a good fight, I mean I think Matt was really surprised at how well he could take him."

"Spin's a bad ass," Lulu joked, "Should have seen him in the Metro Court, he knocked a guy out with his laptop."

"No he did not!" Maxie shockingly looked at her, "He loves his laptop."

"Well he did, then he picked up the gun and didn't know what to do with it, so I took it and we got caught—so anyway what happened next?"

"Okay, so you know how we were talking this morning and how you said I should talk to Jason?"

Lulu warily looked at her, "Yeah."

"Well I talked to Jason," she glanced at Lulu as the car came to another stop at the traffic light.

"Lulu focus on me please."

"Right," Lulu smiled at her, "Continue."

"All I said was that I was scared for him and wanted him to back off, I didn't even mention the word fire and…" Maxie paused seeing Lulu's inability to look her in the eye, "Wait a second."

Lulu quickly looked away, "I need to focus driving."

"No, it's still a red light." Maxie looked her dead on, "You're hiding something."

"What?" Lulu looked at her, "I'm not the one hiding a baby."

"Lulu, did you talk to Jason?" Maxie questioned noticing how uptight she got the instant she mentioned Jason.

"Oh look a green light," Lulu put her foot on the pedal sending both of them back in their seats.

"LULU!" Maxie yelled, "You told him to fire Spinelli didn't you!"

"La la la la," Lulu stared right at the road free of traffic.

"Lulu!" Maxie angrily hit her shoulder.

"Hey! Driving here!" Lulu crazily looked at her.

"Lulu!" She hit her again.

"HEY!" Lulu jerked her head before repeating, "Driving HERE!"

Maxie leaned away from her in a fit, crossing her arms, "Lulu he hates me."

"He won't when I tell him I did it and when you tell him your news," Lulu raised her eyes from Maxie's waist, "But you know it still doesn't matter that I asked Jason to fire him or you hinted it because the point is that you still don't trust him."

"What?" Maxie glanced at her, "Of course I trust Spinelli."

"Not with your heart," Lulu looked away from her back at the road, "You are loving him up to a point where you can't get hurt."

Lulu glanced at her speechless expression, "That's why you don't want to have this baby because that would mean a commitment and a further investment in this relationship with him."

Maxie angrily looked at her sharp analysis, "Well…Well that's why you don't want to marry Johnny!"

Lulu quickly looked away from her, "That's completely different."

"No it's not," Maxie grinned in excitement that she could call Lulu out on the same act of protecting her heart, "What scares you the most about that ring is that he knows at 22 that you are the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with."

"And your problem," Maxie leaned closer to her, "Is that you don't know if you want to spend the rest of your life with him. You are your father's daughter Lulu and you are afraid that if you commit you'll get bored and ruin it."

"No," Lulu said in a low hollow voice as she saw the hospital just a few blocks down.

"Let's look at your history."

"Maxie I thought we agreed…"

"I'm trying to make a point," Maxie tried to explain that this wasn't for the first time an attempt to hurt her.

"You met Dillon, fell in love with him, but after…" Maxie felt uncomfortable using the abortion word, "But after it, Dillon wanted to date you. He wanted a relationship with you as did Milo and Spinelli, but you lost interest because you met Logan."

Maxie looked at her like a light bulb went off, "You ditched Dillon, got with Logan, had a serious relationship…"

"Until you slept with him," Lulu uttered agitated.

Maxie ignored her, "And then you met Johnny, who mended your heart after Logan broke it."

"And you," Lulu glanced up at her, "Don't forget your role in that and I frankly don't see your point because sometimes relationships aren't worth fighting for."

"And others are…" Maxie softly looked at her, "You have been fighting for your relationship with Johnny for a year now and have fought his family, the police, your family and me plus Spinelli or and Logan and yet you two are still together going strong."

Lulu pulled into the parking lot of General Hospital, "Look we're here now so…"

"So let me finish my point," she looked at Lulu who glared at her with annoyance because a part of her knew she was onto something.

"Lulu that's a lot of people not to mention the people I forgot to mention like Sonny and Jason," Maxie reached down for her purse as Lulu pulled into a parking space, "You went through mob wars and god knows what else, but you went through all that in a year and came out on top."

Lulu turned the engine off and reached for her purse where Maxie grabbed her hand, "Lulu listen to me."

"I am listening, I get it, Johnny thinks that if we can survive that, then another ten, twenty or fifty years is nothing, right?"

Maxie saw that 'I know everything' look in her eyes, "Forget it."

Maxie took her seat belt off complaining in her whiney tone, "You've ruined the nice bonding moment between us."

Lulu rolled her eyes and got out of the car, "Maxie I know what your saying and your right."

"I am?" Maxie asked as they stood in front of the car.

"Yes you're right and don't get me wrong it's great that Johnny wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I love that he loves me that much, but if he can't understand that I'm not there yet and may not be for another four, five, six, seven years than he and I aren't going to work, we just won't."

Maxie took in this moment, this bonding moment that she anticipated they would have in the ride over here, it was interesting to hear a compliment from her, "Thank you I guess."

Lulu chuckled, "Sure, now," Lulu quickly changed subjects as they walked from the parking lot to the Hospital, "Now since I'm to blame for all this."

"You're not entirely to blame."

"Good I was hoping you'd see it that way."

"Lulu," Maxie whined.

Lulu chuckled, "I'll tell Spinelli that I was the one that ask Jason to fire him."

"How did you do that by the way," she glanced up at her wondering if they used the same type of tactics.

"You don't want to know," Lulu left it as that, "Anyway…" Lulu started again as they entered the doors, "I'm going to fix this. Not because I feel guilty or because Spinelli is a friend…Hold on."

"Elizabeth," Lulu smiled at her, "What room is he in?"

Elizabeth nervously looked left and right before whispering, "Floor 4, room 411, you didn't here it from me."

Lulu and Maxie oddly looked at her before walking to the elevator where as the doors closed in front of them, Lulu turned to her, "Anyway, I'm doing this because you shouldn't be blamed for something you weren't responsible for…"

Maxie genuinely smiled at her, "Thanks."

"And," Lulu crossed her arms, "Because I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't come forward."

"Yeah that's true," Maxie laughed, "I'd make you're life a living hell."

"My point exactly."

**---The Day Port Charles Stood Still---**

Patrick Drake looked down at the bushy browned haired patient that his father turned over to him after Matt Hunter performed the surgery.

"Epiphany, follow Mr. Spinelli's wishes as he expressed before the surgery," Patrick looked up to see an insulted and an especially annoyed woman eying him, "Epiphany it's not that I don't think you can't do your job, but…" He looked back down at the pale man with tubes in his nose, "But he's got a lot of people that care about him and…"

"I know doctor," Epiphany nodded knowing that of all his fans Maxie and Lulu would be the first ones in line to want to see him, "I called security, they'll be guarding his door at all times. No one will get in."

"Good," Patrick marked a few last notes on the chart before Dr. Bayard entered.

"Drake," Dr. Bayard motioned to see the charts.

Patrick looked at Epiphany, "I'll finish up here, you can leave." Epiphany nodded and then let herself out the room where Dr. Bayard said, "How'd the surgery go?"

"Eh," Patrick closed the folder and then turned to him, "Matt said it went well. He's holding his own."

"I heard he started quite a ruckus earlier today?" Dr. Bayard questioned as he looked over the surgical notes.

"What? I didn't hear a ruckus," Patrick slightly joked where Dr. Bayard looked up at him not amused, "Sorry, yes…"

Dr. Bayard took a deep sigh before closing the chart and looking up at his favorite spunky patient that was just the opposite at the moment, "Poor Kid. Never knew what hit him."

Patrick turned a glance to the young adult barely breathing on his own, "At least we know now what started all this."

"Yeah well," he took a deep breath setting his hands on his hips, "It can't explain everything that happened."

"To be honest," Patrick added, "I don't think he'll want it too."

"You get that notion too?" Dr. Bayard somewhat smiled.

"Yeah, I get the feeling he's going to wake up, here the music and then decide he was still right in what he did."

"This…based on your neurosurgeon expertise?" Dr. Bayard crossed his arms with a small smirk on his face.

"No," Patrick chuckled, "But the infection could have spread to his brain…"

"Never mind his brain doctor, shit, the whole nurses staff was gossiping about it, his friends and family blatantly betrayed him, I don't think I would have reacted much differently had I been in his place, would you?"

"Having been betrayed once by the woman I love," Patrick nodded his head disappointedly, "Well I don't know, I love Robin, but when she lied to me for just those couple of weeks about my own child…" He clutched his jaw, "I was mad as hell…"

"The question is," Patrick glanced at the boy's face, "Can he forgive her?"

Dr. Bayard nodded wondering the same thing, "How complicated young love is…Well it looks like he's stable for now, good job."

"Dr. Hunter deserves the thank you," Patrick smiled before taking the chart back.

"Right, well I'll let you take over the case while I check in on my other patients, let me know if anything changes," Dr. Bayard backed away to the door.

"Of course," Patrick nodded where by the time he looked back at the bed, Dr. Bayard had left.

Patrick looked down at the chart again, _Damian Millhouse Spinelli_, he frowned as he gazed back up at the kid who had helped him so many times in he and Robin's blog wars, how he wished he could help him now.

Patrick closed the door behind him with the binder in his hand when he heard the scurrying sound of two frantic blonde women, "Ladies…"

"Patrick is he okay?" Maxie quickly asked where Lulu added, "How is he?"

Patrick nervously looked at them knowing it would be against hospital policy to tell them his condition, "Um…"

"It's bad isn't it?" Maxie looked at him trying to keep her composure together, but it wasn't as easy as it was before. Before it was just she and Spinelli the best friends, not she and Spinelli the couple, which technically wasn't even accurate anymore, but even with what happened earlier she had another person to think about. The wee one that she knew in her heart was more than just an idea or a scare. There was a baby, a little blonde girl or a little brown boy growing inside of her and despite how angry she was at Spinelli, she couldn't help but be worried sick for his well being for the sake of their child. Maybe she wanted this baby more than she thought, maybe a part of her needed their wee one so she'd have something to remember him by if he ever left her.

Her hand brushed up against her stomach as she moved to set her hands on her hips, "Patrick…"

"Maxie," Patrick softly looked at her seeing the poor girl's fragileness. Maybe it was the fact that he was a father who would soon have a daughter who many years from now would be in love as Maxie was now, Patrick Drake's impending fatherhood had made him gone soft.

Maxie raised her hand from her hip to her mouth and then ran it through her hair, "Please Patrick, just tell me. I can handle it." Maxie glanced over at Lulu for some reason needing her in this moment like Lulu needed her that night she killed Logan.

Lulu put her arm around Maxie, "Patrick just tell it to us straight," Lulu begged of him, "Is he going to live?"

Patrick stood uncomfortably, but formed a small smile, "Yes, he's going to live."

"Oh thank god," Maxie rolled her eyes before embracing Lulu with a hug, both relieved.

Lulu smiled at Maxie seeing her tears of joy, even after everything that happened, she didn't love him any less.

Patrick cleared his throat, "He's going to live, but he'll have a good week's worth of rest and recovery."

Lulu turned to him confused, "I don't understand, I thought he just took some bad pills for his shoulder."

"Lulu he was poisoned," Patrick looked at her like it wasn't that simple.

"Poisoned?" Maxie disbelievingly looked at him, "From pills he got from this hospital?"

"I'm afraid so," Patrick grimly looked at them, "We had to pump his stomach to remove the poisonous contents from it. In doing so we discovered he was under the influence," Patrick paused momentarily to open up the binder and read the chart.

As he read the medications to himself, he still couldn't believe how the pharmacy could be so negligent, "Of…um well of Oxycodon," he looked up at them, "Which was not the pain medication prescribed to him because of Mr. Spinelli's history with drug abuse."

Patrick wandered his eyes back to the chart, "We found traces of behavioral medication which if not taken regularly can cause mood swings, outbursts, and mild to extreme ranges of rage which as you know Mr. Spinelli um…Experienced today."

"So um," Maxie slowly raised her hand to her forehead to lift her head, "Is there any chance…"

"No," he interrupted before she could even explain her thoughts, "I mean we won't know until he wakes up, but I am very doubtful that the medication had anything to do with his verbal behavior."

Maxie slowly nodded, "Of course not…" She wiped the tears in the corner of her eyes before looking at Lulu.

"Hey," Lulu gently grazed her back, "That doesn't mean anything, once Spinelli knows the truth he'll understand."

"Will he?" Maxie huffed in utter disbelief.

"He will," Lulu insisted, she'd damn well make him understand.

Patrick cleared his throat, "Uh hum…"

Maxie looked away from Lulu to Patrick whom continued, "As I was about to say the combination of all those drugs led to severe cramping which induced vomiting. He later went into convulsions…"

_Convulsions? _Maxie repeated to herself, it sounded so…serious, so dramatic, it made her dizzy just thinking that he had gone through such a thing.

Patrick could see the growing concern on their faces, "It was small seizure, but we immediately checked him into GH where we noticed the infection."

"Infe-c-tion?" Maxie stumbled over the word wondering how much worse his diagnosis could get. She watched as Patrick's mouth moved, but nothing came out that she wanted to hear.

"Dr. Hunter led the surgery."

"Dr. Hunter?" Maxie questioned for she was sure of his character earlier.

"Yes, he lead the surgery with Dr. Leo and I later joining him. We were able to prevent the infection in his shoulder from spreading to his heart, but had we not noticed it when we did the infection might have turned into that of a flesh eating bacterial infection and he would have lost his arm within the week."

It was beginning to take it's toll on her, maybe beforehand she could have handled it as his best friend, but as the woman that loved him, she could feel herself slipping.

Lulu could see the flush of whiteness across Maxie's face as a result of Patrick's not so brilliant idea to include how Spinelli's condition could have escalated, "But he's okay now right?" Lulu looked at Patrick, eying him to have a little bedside manner.

"Yes," he nodded at Lulu and then turned his glanced towards Maxie.

"Maxie?" He gently called her name searching for her gaze where as soon as he found it, he softly smiled, "Spinelli is going to be okay, I'm going to personally see to it that he leaves this hospital as the man you know him to be."

She looked into his eyes like she trusted him with her whole heart to keep his promise.

He formed a smile in the corner of his mouth, "Okay?"

She slowly nodded showing she understood, but wasn't convinced that he really understood how much Spinelli meant to her and how much she longed for them to return to the way they were.

"…And if there is something to be said about all this, it's that Spinelli had no idea…no idea of the changes his body and mind were going through," he slowly nodded his head trying to explain what happened in the best way possible.

"He was under the influence of such powerful medication and under such a tremendous amount of pressure, stress and pain that when you put all that together you get the worst of all Nascar wrecks."

She hiccupped a laugh where he smiled brightly at her, "Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control and Spinelli's condition was out of control to the point where when he crashed, he really crashed and banged himself up pretty bad."

He glanced at the hospital room with a frown where it wasn't long before Maxie and Lulu peered closer and stared in as he did.

"Just remember this," he turned to them, "Things look dark and gloomy now, but eventually," he smiled, "They'll get better and the best thing about us men making asses out of ourselves, intentionally or not…is that we have to make it up to you in the most pride sucking manner of them all which means all the flowers, chocolate and diamonds and…" He leaned in looking around before making eye contact with the two of them, "Best make up sex ever."

"Patrick!" Robin shouted his name.

Patrick quickly looked up at her blushing, "Um…"

"What are you…" She walked towards them, "Patrick honey what are you filling these young girls heads with?"

"Uh nothing," he smiled nervously, "Just um," he looked up at Maxie and Lulu, "Well shoot ladies it's true…"

Maxie laughed, "He was just telling us Robin that make up sex is the best part of getting back together with the person you love."

Robin looked at up at him, "Oh he was, was he?"

"Well I was um…" He looked at Robin and then at Maxie and Lulu, "Uh…Well girls." He nervously laughed before looking back at Robin where he instantly thought of something clever to say, "Hey if it wasn't for that make up sex we wouldn't be having our little girl would we?"

Robin pouted at his spark of genius, "I guess not." She playfully smiled before leaning into kiss him.

Lulu awkwardly watched them begin to make out where as the feeling that the two should get a room crept up in her throat, she glanced at Maxie knowing she probably wouldn't mind to watch that seeing as they were her family, but instead her eyes were fixated on Patrick's hand tenderly touching Robin's belly.

"Max…" Lulu uttered where Maxie turned away from her cousin and boyfriend to the window seal of Spinelli's room. She stared through the glass at the machines that there were fewer of this time, but the tubes in his nose and his slow rising chest didn't comfort her any less. With one hand on the window seal, she unconsciously motioned her other hand to her lower abdomen where she believed the peanut size baby to be.

"Maxie," Lulu quietly whispered as stopped right to side of her where they were both at equal distance from the window.

"He looks so…" She lost the words to describe the uneasiness she felt seeing him in this condition. It only made her peck her fingers more at the baby, the baby he knew nothing about because of her.

"I'm going to tell him Lulu. As soon as he wakes up I'm going to tell him why I've been pushing him away," she stared back at his face, the cheek she coldly slapped, "I've been so stupid with everything Lulu." She folded her hands onto her face, lightly sobbing, "What have I done?"

Lulu looked at the woman she could barely stand on a regular basis, "Here here." She pulled her into an embrace and held her in her arms.

"I should have told him from the beginning, I should have listened to you Lulu."

Lulu smirked, "Well that's a first."

"Well this is one of those days where we're not…."

"I know enemies." Lulu glanced down at her where she chuckled, "Yeah."

Maxie leaned her head against the side of Lulu's where Lulu hugged her tighter, "You want to ask Patrick if maybe you can sit with him?"

"Yeah," she began to lean away from Lulu where she felt like if she could just talk to him, hold his hand that maybe what happened, what he said, maybe it all could be forgotten.

Looking at Lulu she sort of joked, "Maybe I can convince him to wake up."

Lulu laughed, "Well you've convinced him to live, to not give up, I think convincing him to wake up should be a walk in the park for you especially with that sarcastic mouth of yours and all…"

Maxie humorously huffed as they walked back over to Patrick, "Like you're one to talk."

"What?!" Lulu pointed to herself, "I am not."

"Yes you are," Maxie crossed her arms where they bickered until they stopped in front of Patrick who was kissing Robin goodbye.

"Pat-?" Maxie was interrupted by Epiphany's overpowering voice.

"Dr. Drake," Epiphany said before clearing her throat at the couple that was making out.

"Oh right," he mumbled leaning out of his kiss with Robin.

"These are the security officers that Mr. Spinelli requested…" Epiphany introduced the men.

Patrick shook their hands, "You went over the protocol…" He stopped when Epiphany nodded like she had explained the circumstances.

"Okay then, well you don't need any instruction from me or Nurse Johnson," Patrick smiled, "Just do your job until Mr. Spinelli change's his policy."

The guards nodded and then positioned themselves to the door not noticing the two blonde girls who wondered what was going on as well as the brunette.

"How are you doing?" Robin whispered to Maxie, "I'm sorry I had to leave so soon."

"Maxie I'll be right back," Lulu walked towards Patrick.

Maxie nodded before turning to her cousin, "It's okay," Maxie saw the glimmer in her eye from earlier, "No Robin I didn't…you know."

"Why not?" Robin looked at her slightly disappointed, "Because right now all that matters is him."

"Patrick?" Lulu said his name in a nervous tone, "Um can we go in an see him?"

"Um," Patrick froze not knowing how to tell him that the charts said no visitors unless they are Claudia or Johnny Zacchara.

"Maxie that's not fair to the baby," Robin was bout to explain how that was a bad idea.

"Robin," Maxie looked away from Lulu, "I know it isn't, but you know what I don't want to be a mother okay? And you know what just because I'm a couple of weeks late doesn't mean that I'm pregnant? Right?"

Robin tried to keep a straight face, "Maxie I think you need to prepare yourself and if you were talking to Dr. Lee she'd want you to schedule a visit."

"Not until Spinelli is awake and well. I can't do this by myself even if I don't want the baby," she honestly told her who wondered as she backed away from her, what she meant by that.

"Patrick I want to see Spinelli," Maxie told him.

"Um," Patrick rubbed his neck, "Uh…You can't."

"What?" They both said wondering why, "What do you mean we can't and why are there guards by his door?"

"Because!" Claudia came up from behind Patrick and walked beside him, "This document right here says so." She took the chart from his hand showed them where it said _no visitors especially Maxie Jones, Lulu Spencer, and Jason Morgan._

"This has go to be a mistake," Maxie gazed up at Claudia, "He would never shut his friends and family out."

"Looks like he just did." Claudia handed the chart back to Patrick, "Thank you doctor."

Claudia looked back at the two twits, "And the guards are I presume are to keep you two away from him."

"It's not gonna work," Maxie snarled at her, "Spinelli will wake up and decide he wants me in there."

"And if he does, great, he can change the stupid sheet, but until he does, you will not come near this door."

"You can't do this Claudia," Lulu joined the fight, "You can't do this."

"Will you two try screwing in a light bulb and realize that I only make decisions in regard to his health, the hospital has to enforce this," she pointed to the binder, "Don't hate me for his decisions, which I happen to like because I think he can do better than you just like my brother can do better without you."

"That's enough Claudia," Johnny walked into the hallway, "You don't have to be mean."

"Johnny convince her to let me in," Maxie asked believing he would, but he refused.

"Let you in?" Johnny crossed his arms walking towards her, "Why would I do that? You did this to him."

Lulu stepped in front of Maxie, "No you, she and your father did this to him."

Claudia rolled her eyes, "John and I didn't do this to him, Maxie did."

"No she didn't!" Lulu argued back.

"Hey!" Patrick raised his voice, "There is blame to share, but the point is Spinelli is alive and frankly I don't think he'd want you," he looked at Claudia, "And you," he looked at Johnny, "Anywhere near him if he knew that instead of caring about his health you were pointing the finger at people."

"I want all of you to go home because Spinelli when he wakes up is not going to need this drama and if I hear more bickering I'll go to the chief and put his care in my hands until he's fit to make his own decisions."

The lady in red as Spinelli called her stared at Patrick's menacing face, "Well when he wakes up tomorrow, tell him Sister Claudia will be on her way…Come on John."

She walked passed Patrick down the hall, "John…"

Johnny pouted, "Coming," he looked up at Lulu and Maxie, "I'll let you know if anything changes and if he wants to see you guys, I'm sorry." Johnny backed away and then turned down the hall.

Patrick turned away from the Zacchara siblings, "Ladies you have to leave too."

"Patrick," she looked at him begging, "I just want to…"

"Maxie I'm sorry, it's hospital policy that we follow the patient's wishes," he turned to the guards, "Guys, lead them out, I'll stay with Spinelli until you two get back."

The guards nodded and walked from the doors, "Ladies."

"Come on Maxie," Lulu touched her shoulder, "Tomorrow everything will be cleared up."

Patrick watched as they walked away feeling like a failure even though it was his job, "Robin…"

"You did the right thing," she walked towards him, "You did your job."

"Why does it feel like I just…"

"Did something terribly wrong?" She questioned as she placed her hands on his cheeks, "Because the situation is terribly wrong."

"You know what I regret the most about this?" He looked down that the binder.

"What?" She looked down at the charts he flipped to.

Patrick opened the door to Spinelli's room and led her in where as soon as he closed the door he gave her the chart to read, "Patrick…" She looked up at him, no emotion, but shock present.

He walked to Spinelli's unconscious body or rather sleeping body was more like it. One hand in his pocket he moved the other to his chin, "No Robin," he slowly looked up at her knowing she knew what he knew now, "My only regret was letting them believe there would be a tomorrow."

* * *

Author's Note: Holy smokes what a long chapter! Yikes! Classic J&R for all you guys, not only did I include a scene with them, but a quote from when Robin and Jason broke up for the first time. Well I left it with a cliffhanger didn't I? Ha. So the next chapter will have angst, love, the final reveal…is she pregnant or not? And a bittersweet reunion. The next update should be within the week because it's pretty much just fluff, which is super easy for me to put together. Anyway review! REVIEW! REVIEW! I spent a lot of time writing this and trying to get it out to you guys because it's been so long since I last updated. The reviews will keep me writing and I hope the time gap hasn't made you all lose interest. Thanks. Love ya guys.


	20. Mad World

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait again…Promise the next chapter will be lighthearted. You will love it. This chapter sets many things up for the near future. We're going to learn a lot about our characters here. Great themes in this chapter really present the reason for the title of the chapter, which is based off a song in the movie Donnie Darko. As always enjoy!

Chapter 20

**Mad World**

"_We've all done terrible things to each other, but we have to forgive each other. Or everything we ever were will mean nothing." –Mary Jane, Spider man 3_

**---**

The chief of General Hospital stared down his top surgeons, "I'm disappointed."

"Russell," Dr. Bayard exasperated while crossing his arms in annoyance to the man's over dramatic behavior.

"Don't Russell me Bill!" Dr. Ford walked towards Dr. Bayard's chair, "You're lucky that I haven't suspended you yet!"

"Jesus Christ o mighty!" Dr. Bayard abruptly stood up from his chair to lightly brush up against Dr. Ford's chest.

"This wouldn't have happened if you—"

"Don't bring this on me!" Dr. Bayard flared his arms around before threatening them near Dr. Ford.

"This is just like Nam! If you cared more about your patients…"

"Bull shit Russell! If you hired more combat surgeons like me, like that Hayes fellow who applied here before he was murdered, I wouldn't have to drop my patients to save every gun shot victim that the mob brings in!"

"Guys!" Patrick and Leo nervously stood next them as fire ignited between old rivals.

The older men looked away from each other, setting their hands on their hips as Leo talked, "We have to stop turning on each other, stop thinking of what we could have or should have done."

"He's right," Patrick looked at Dr. Ford and then panned to Dr. Bayard, "We have to accept the mistakes we've made and..."

Dr. Ford looked at the younger surgeons and then walked back over to his desk, "Gentlemen, I called you because Claudia Zacchara is planning to sue the hospital for malpractice."

"What?" They all said in surprise.

Dr. Ford turned to them, his fist setting on his desk, "Men, he's been in a coma for three days, three days too long."

"It's my fault," Patrick pouted before crossing his arms where just as he was about to explain, Matt interrupted, "No it's not."

"Um yes it is, I gave them false hope," Patrick looked back at Dr. Ford, "I shouldn't have done that."

"There's a lot of things we shouldn't have done," Dr. Bayard softly spoke up, "Russell." He looked up at him where he honestly admitted his lapse in judgment, "I didn't have time to give him a full examination that morning, so when the kid said he was fine, but had mild discomfort from the pain I gave him his medication and scrubbed in."

"Do you know how stupid that was Bill?" Dr. Ford scolded him, "The whole hospital is up for liability because of you."

"I know," he looked down disappointed, "I know, but I'm a damn good doctor." He confidently looked up Dr. Ford.

"Just like Drake," he pointed with his thumb to him, "Just like Leo," he looked at him, "Just like you," he looked at Dr. Ford, "And I'll be damned for losing my license when all I was trying to do was save a life."

"Yeah at the expense of his," Dr. Ford glared at him.

"It's not his fault," Matt whined again.

Patrick annoyingly looked at him, "Why do you keep saying that?" He turned to him, "It is our fault."

"No, it's not our fault." Matt stood up from his chair becoming face to face with Patrick, "It's not our fault when the patient isn't honest with us."

"Oh and he wasn't honest with you when you found him with Maxie?" Patrick questioned his ethics.

Matt looked at him wondering how he could be so unfair, "He was abusing her!"

"No he wasn't!" Patrick shouted, "Maxie cried on my shoulder all night long explaining just what happened, he lost his temper and grabbed her arm."

"He was hurting her!"

"And so you end it! You don't repeatedly beat a patient up!"

"Is this true Dr. Hunter?" Dr. Ford asked almost understanding now why Claudia had drawn up charges against the man.

Matt looked at the chief, "I did what I thought was right."

Patrick turned to Dr. Ford where he glanced at Matt, "Tell him where you hit Mr. Spinelli."

Mat glared up at him, "It doesn't matter where I hit him, the damage was already done!"

"Where did you hit him son?" Dr. Ford was curious now.

"Tell him Matt, you're so proud of your noble act as human being, tell him," Patrick rebuked.

Matt nodded in betrayal of his co-worker, "I beat his shoulder."

"You did what?" Leo asked him completely shocked to the fact that he was this inhuman.

"Answer him," Dr. Ford ordered for he wanted a full detail description of what he did.

Matt looked at the chief, his role model, "You can't be serious Dr. Ford? He needed to be taught a lesson."

"No he didn't," Dr. Ford slowly walked around his desk, "Mr. Spinelli should have been honest about his condition, but granted it is our job as doctors to look out for his well being despite what he does for living or who he's sleeping with."

"Fine, I had a lapse in judgment," he said unapologetic.

"No you didn't Dr. Hunter," Dr. Ford stopped in front of him.

"I made a mistake just like you all did," Matt pointed to the three doctors.

"Shut up," Dr. Ford raised his voice, "Don't compare yourself to us."

"Excuse me?" Matt looked at him taken off guard.

"We made honest mistakes, but you on the other hand knew what you were doing, didn't you?"

"Fine," Matt faced him, "I rammed his shoulder into the wall and then I shoved my knee into it where I satisfyingly smiled at the crack that I heard."

Dr. Bayard grinded his teeth, "I want to punch him," he whispered.

Leo put his hand in front of the man's chest, "Let me do the honors," he lowered his hand, but as he began to step forward Dr. Ford sucker punched him.

Matt chuckled as he touched the blood from his lip, "He's just a patient."

"He's not just a patient!" Dr. Ford shouted.

Matt eyed him wiping the blood off his lip, "Yes he is just a patient."

Crawling to his feet he looked Dr. Ford straight in the eye, "And you've forgotten that."

He jerked his head to Patrick to Dr. Bayard and to Dr. Noah before panning to Dr. Ford, "He is our patient not our friend."

Matt pointed to everyone in the room, "You all used to remember that, you used to remember the cardinal rule of medicine, the first thing they teach us in med school." Matt shook his head in complete disbelief at how they turned on him. He back tread to the door and then stopped to look at them when grabbed the door knob, "And you know what? You hate me because I'm not emotionally attached to him. You think that because I don't feel for him that I don't feel at all well fuck you. I didn't come to Port Charles to steal the great Patrick Drake's thunder, I came to get away from the same mistakes I made as you're making now." He turned away from them to open the door and walked in the doorway, "The only difference is that I was so emotionally attached to my patients, notice the plural, that I didn't want to save their lives."

Matt expected their glares that questioned his ethics, "I thought my best friend and my fiancé deserved each other…in hell and so they did and I live to regret that lapse in judgment," he looked at Dr. Ford, "Because they were just patients who I hated when I found out they were screwing each other in the back of a limo when it was hit by a drunk driver."

He opened the door where he heard Dr. Ford call his name, "Dr. Hunter…"

Matt looked back at him and the other surgeons, "Mr. Spinelli is a patient just like the tens of others we lose each day."

"We're not going to lose him," Patrick confidently, but softly spoke.

Matt accepted their determinacy, "And I hope you don't, I wish you the best, but don't stand there and blame a fucking punch for his condition because we all know it was you four who put him in this coma."

Matt left the room leaving Dr. Bayard riled up, "Tell me your not gonna take that from him Russell."

Dr. Ford glanced away from the door in doubt, "He was right."

Dr. Bayard laughed, "You talk about me being a liability, look at him. He killed two people."

"We don't really know that," Dr. Ford walked around to his desk.

"I'm not going to trust him in OR," Leo turned to him where Patrick added on, "Or any OR with Spinelli in."

Dr. Ford nodded, "I'll call his last employment and get the details meanwhile, we need to discuss Mr. Spinelli's condition, Patrick I haven't read the information Epiphany gave me this morning."

"Well you might want to read it sir," Patrick walked back to his chair to open the binder, "There's something I want you to look at and you two as well."

Patrick took the cat scans from the binder, "Now this is what a normal healthy brain looks like," he put the scan up and turned the light on, "This is what Spinelli's brain looked like 3 days ago and this is what it looked like at eight this morning." He put the last of the scans up, "And these are just CT scans, not MRI or PET scans."

Patrick looked at them, "Maxie Jones told me he suffered a serious car accident six years ago that's why the frontal lobe of the brain doesn't look normal…"

"But even so," Dr. Ford walked curiously towards the scans where Dr. Bayard and Dr. Julian followed from behind, "Frontal lobe is the personality of the brain right?"

"Yes sir," Patrick looked at him knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"Patrick," Dr. Bayard looked left to right at the scans, "The infection is nearly gone, looks like you and Robin found a cure that worked, great job." He smiled hopefully, "He should be out of the coma soon, the charges should be dropped and walla, everything will be back to normal."

"That's a great diagnosis doctor, I wish it was that easy," he smiled, "But look closer." Patrick looked down at the folder, "I contacted the doctors who operated on Damian six years ago…"

"Damian?" Leo curiously asked not knowing that was his real name.

Patrick removed the slide from the folder, "That's what he used to go by," he looked away from Noah to the light where he removed the slides and presented a new type of scan, a 3-D scan to show the layers of Spinelli's brain.

"I will reiterate the pictures we are looking at doctors," he pointed to the normal, healthy scan of a brain, a scan of Spinelli after the accident and then the two recent scans of him.

Patrick saw the confused looks on their faces, "This is the layer of brain damage," he pointed to the scan after his accident, "Look at the layer now." He pointed to this mornings scan.

Dr. Ford looked closer, "There must be something wrong with the machine because there's no way that the damage I'm seeing here," he pointed to the accident scan, "could have just disappeared."

"Maybe it didn't," Noah spoke up, "Look it's not all gone."

"But parts of it are though," Dr. Bayard pointed to the various areas that were now free of it, "What medication did you use?"

"That's the thing, Robin and I weren't able to find a treatment because the bacteria in his arm was the beginning stages of transforming into Necrotizing Fasciitis…"

"Flesh eating bacteria," Leo interrupted, "So the infection spread to his brain, but not to his heart? Blood goes to everywhere in the body."

"What's even more puzzling is that I asked Matt to take a sample of the bacteria in his shoulder and after running a few tests of the infection in his brain," he handed the results to Noah, "It's different."

"What do you mean different?" Dr. Bayard asked as his eyes wandered to the results in Noah's hands.

Patrick nervously looked at them, "Guys, I think we have the first case of a Necrotizing Fasciitis mutation."

"We do not," Dr. Ford looked at them quickly for if they did it could mean really good things for General Hospital.

"You want to bet?" Patrick questioned, "Necrotizing Fasciitis bacteria eats skin and muscle tissue. What if either before his surgery or during it, the bacteria mutated before or while it was traveling into the blood stream."

"But what would cause a mutation?" Leo looked at him where Patrick interrupted Noah's incoming words, "Anything could have caused it, but you wondered why there wasn't an infection in his heart or other parts of his body and I'm telling you this could be the reason."

Leo grinned, "You know what this means don't you?" Leo looked at him wondering if he knew the full potential of his discovery, "This bacteria not only mutated, but it identified bad tissue and ate it thus becoming a treatment."

Patrick grinned for this was the same conclusion he came to as well, "I know." He pointed at the scans, "I want to take Spinelli into surgery and collect samples before it dies."

"Or before it goes beyond the brain damage," Dr. Bayard looked up at the scans, "Maybe the bacteria only has a taste for the protein of brain tissue."

"If that was the case, we'd see it," Patrick glanced up at the scans, "Tissues have different proteins, but this bacteria hasn't attacked anything, but the infection and the brain damage itself."

Dr. Ford looked at Patrick, "You're sure about this, about all of it."

Patrick glanced at him, "I've never been more sure of anything else in my life besides Robin. Russell this could be just what the hospital needs to get over the HMO Medcam scandal last year."

If there was one thing Dr. Ford needed right now it for was General Hospital to be credited for the cure and treatment of chronic brain damage.

"I guess I better call the appropriate people," he walked to his phone, "As for you three, go check up on our patient, the sooner he wakes up, the sooner we'll be able to make sense of all this."

---

Claudia Zacchara sat in the darkness of Spinelli's room that night staring at him, "You're going to be in all the medical journals. You'll be famous and won't even know it."

"He already was famous," Robin uttered from her the doorway.

Claudia looked away from her, "I'll be right back Spinelli." She kissed his forehead and then walked outside, "I don't appreciate you sneaking up on me. It's kind of creepy."

Robin apologetically smiled, "I'm sorry, I didn't meant to disturb you, but can I talk to you about something?"

"If this is about Maxie, no," she could see by the look of her face it was and so she turned away from her.

"Wait," Robin slightly raised her voice.

Claudia turned to her further annoyed, "Even if I liked Maxie, I wouldn't be able to let her in because the papers say so, Dr. Scorpio..."

"Call me Robin."

"Robin," Claudia crossed her arms, leaning on the door frame, "It was his choice to exclude her and Lulu from his room. Why he trusted me, I don't know. Maybe it was because he knew I despise them and would keep them from him and if that were his wishes, I'd be letting him down."

"I understand that, but put yourself in Maxie's shoes," Robin paused seeing Claudia's discomfort, "Please…" Robin insisted before explaining the world in which Maxie is currently living in.

"I know you don't like Maxie and I don't want to know the reasons why, but my cousin loves that man Claudia," Robin softly looked at her, "She loves him for all the things that we love about him. The way he looks past our flaws and sees our great potential and beauty," Robin smiled knowing he had often seen that in Claudia when Jason and Sonny didn't want to.

"He was there for her when Georgie and Cooper died and I don't think she would have ever gotten over it if it wasn't for him. He's changed her."

Claudia rolled her eyes, "Yeah right…"

"How would you know?" Robin quickly judged, "You came to Port Charles six months ago? Met Maxie two or three months ago?"

"Yeah," Claudia nodded, "So what…"

"So you don't know how she was…."

"I do, I do know who she is and she's the woman who almost slept with my brother for twenty thousand dollars."

"Almost, she almost slept with him, but didn't," Robin looked at her to make the distinction, "She didn't and I like to think it was because of Spinelli."

"Wishful thinking," Claudia smirked.

"No, not wishful thinking. He's changed her and up until four weeks ago, I don't think she really knew how much of an impression he made on her life until she had to experience that evening on the docks." She hoped the reference she made might cause Claudia to feel remorseful seeing as Anthony had set that up.

"So what is it that you're asking?" Claudia looked away from her wondering where exactly Maxie was hiding out.

"Maxie's in the locker room for you information and if you let her have one night…"

Claudia stiffened up believing that was pushing it, "Ten minutes."

"Claudia, he's going into surgery tomorrow morning. The Journal of American Medicine and other institutions want to jump quickly on Patrick's discovery and although I'm sure the surgery will be successful, there are always risks."

"He should wake up this time right?"

"Yes, we're confident he will."

"Then she can wait." Claudia turned back into the room.

"Claudia, what's one night? All she wants is to feel close to him. To tell him she's sorry. To remind him what he has to live for," Robin thought of Maxie's secret, "She just wants to tell him she loves him."

Claudia glanced at her, considering her offer. She wondered if she could live with herself if the worst was to come and Spinelli didn't make it. How the inability to be with someone you loved to make things right would haunt you.

"Alright," Claudia said in complete surprise that she was doing this, "She can spend the rest of the night with him and then she'll have to wait for him to wake up."

Robin lit up with excitement, "Thank you, thank you so much."

"Yeah well," she leaned off the doorframe, "I'll be inside."

Robin nodded and made her way to the locker room while Claudia told the guards to leave for the night.

She took a seat on the corner of his bed, "I hope you don't wake up hating me, but this just seemed like the right thing to do," she frowned taking his hand in hers, "You'll be in my thoughts tomorrow."

Claudia didn't know why tears were forming in her eyes. Patrick and the other doctors had assured her that the surgery should go smoothly, but she couldn't help, but think of the what-if, of what-if he never wakes up or the what-if he dies.

"Johnny likes you Spinelli. I think he thinks you're his first real guy buddy he's ever had, I don't want him to lose that," she set his hand on the bed, "And I don't want to lose the only friend who believed in me, forgave me and cared about me like you have."

She looked away chuckling, "The only one who didn't want to sleep with me." Because he was in love with the beautiful Maxie Jones who showed up on cue as she thought of her.

Claudia looked away from her in the doorway and got off the bed, "Good luck tomorrow." She kissed Spinelli's forehead.

Maxie watched Claudia say her goodbyes in a small kiss that she knew was harmless, but made her jealous that she could tend to him like that when ever she wanted to.

As the woman she despised walked towards her, Maxie knew she had to be careful, if she wanted to see Spinelli again she had to show that she was grateful.

"Thank you," Maxie whispered.

Claudia stopped in front of her, holding her red purse, "I'm doing this as a woman to woman thing okay?" She glanced away from her to Spinelli, "Because you're not the reason he's in here. The boneheaded idiot doctors of this hospital are."

Claudia somberly glanced away from him to put up her usual attitude towards Maxie, "So spend the rest of the night with him because when he's awake I doubt he'll want you as close as I'm allowing you to get."

Maxie nodded, she didn't want to argue or explain herself for the hundredth time so she simply let Claudia have this one. The door closed and for the first time in what felt like forever, she was alone with him. Actually that wasn't true anymore next week would confirm that, she only hoped that he'd be with her.

She drifted to his bedside and ran her fingers over his hand, up his arm and to his rambunctious brown hair, "Spinelli," she whimpered as he leaned over to rest her forehead against his.

"I don't want to fight anymore," she whispered with her eyes closed, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I love you and I don't care if you want to work for Jason because I just want to be with _you_." She looked down at him before pressing her moist lips against his forehead.

She backed away to the chair near his bed and pulled it closer. Sitting in it, she stared at his beaten up face.

_Since when is Dr. Matt Hunter a good friend of yours?_

_He's not.  
_

_You know I'm having a hard time believing you._

She looked onto his slow rising chest to his very still hand. It was the hand she had longed to hold and to place up against her cheek or down against her abdomen.

She reached for his hand and squeezed it, "There's so much I never told you."

"So much," she lifted his hand to cup her cheek where she intimately flashed back to every single moment he tenderly touched her like this.

"That I…" She kissed the inside of his palm, "didn't know how to tell you" she placed his warm hand against her flat stomach.

She wiped her free falling tears and stood up from the chair with his hand still pressed against their wee one and sat on the edge of his bed. Sitting beside him, she prepared to make a desperate plea to him, "So if you can hear me…" She cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb over the soft skin, "I think we're having a baby and if I decide I want this baby it's going to be because of you, because he or she is going to have the greatest father in the world and a mother who would be nothing without him."

Maxie took his hand off her abdomen and kissed the inside of his hand, "I need you and I refuse," her voice cracked, "To believe this is the end." She stopped her lips just millimeters of his, "So come back to me…again," she kissed his lips. She let go of his hand and rested her head on his chest where she felt the rhythm of his heart synchronize with hers and together beat as one.

It was a mystery to her, but to the doctors of General Hospital, they would have said it was another miracle brought by their love.

---

Patrick walked with Epiphany and Elizabeth on either of side of him, "How is his stats looking ladies?"

"Better by the day," Elizabeth cheered, "But he has a visitor inside…" She nervously revealed as they came to a stop in the room.

Patrick looked at her confused as he took the chart off the door, "Where are the guards?"

He looked at Elizabeth and Epiphany who had no answer, but before he could ask anything else Claudia appeared, "I gave them the night off."

"That wasn't up to you," Patrick annoyingly looked at her before taking a peek inside the window, "And it most certainly was not up to you or to anyone else to let her in."

"Patrick," Elizabeth softly spoke to him.

"No," he looked up at them, "She may love him, but these papers," he waved them, "Insists he doesn't care."

"Well," Claudia evilly smiled, "Isn't someone a little, oh, shall I say…Cocky today?"

"Uh huh," Epiphany murmured.

Patrick frowned at them, "This has nothing to do with the surgery."

He saw their doubtful glares, "It doesn't. This is about following a man's wishes."

"Which I'm in charge of at the moment," Claudia crossed her arms, "I let her in."

Patrick amusingly laughing, "You despise Maxie, who convinced you…."

"I did," Robin spoke up from behind him.

"Robin," Patrick turned around, "I thought…"

"Five minutes isn't going to hurt anyone," Robin insisted.

"Well her five minutes are up," Patrick looked at all the women around him and entered Spinelli's room.

Maxie quickly stirred her head from the bed to hear Patrick say, "We need to prep him."

Maxie nodded, but didn't understand that it meant for her to leave this exact moment when Patrick raised his voice, "Now."

She was hurt by his glare. It wasn't as if she had hurt Spinelli, all she wanted was to be close to him, couldn't he understand that? Or had his bedside manner faded away with his new fame?

"Fine," she slowly rose from her chair and turned to Spinelli.

She winced a smile and then leaned forward to kiss his forehead, "Remember what I said." She whispered before moving her lips to his, "I'll be right here waiting," she softly kissed them and then leaned away.

She let go his hand and turned to Patrick who motioned to the door, "I'm leaving." She assured him having no idea that as she left Spinelli's side, his hand moved, yearning for a warm touch.

---

The scalpel graced the black Sharpe marked along the skin of incision, "Are we ready?" Patrick looked up at the surgeons from out of state and the press from the Journal of American Medicine.

"You may begin Dr. Drake."

Patrick smiled before taking a deep breath, "Alright, let's make history."

---

Johnny sat next to his sister observing the restlessness in his sister's fidgeting hands, "Claud?"

Her hands stopped shaking and she glanced up at him, "Yeah?"

"There's more to the surgery isn't there?" He asked knowing that there was something she and the doctors wanted to avoid telling him and even Lulu and Maxie.

She softly pet his cheek, rubbing it with her finger like her mother did when he was young, "John it's just an infection..."

He got up from the bench to walk to the doors of the OR where he looked at the cameras and the photographers, "They're treating him like a lab rat."

"John!" Claudia raised her voice completely offended by his comments.

John quickly jerked his head at her, "Look at them Claudia! Taking pictures and video! That's not just some simple brain surgery!"

Claudia quickly got up from the bench, "John calm down!"

"I bet Maxie knows what's going on," Johnny backed away from her, "I bet she knows the secrecy around this."

Claudia saw his attempt to walk away, but quickly grabbed his arm, "Don't you dare."

"Let go," John warned.

"John," she begged him to stay put.

"Tell me or I'll go to Maxie and Lulu," he looked her deep in the eyes completely serious about this.

"I bet they won't know anything more than you," in fact she knew they knew nothing more than what he knew according to the conversations she had with Patrick and Robin before the surgery.

"I'll take my chances," he brushed away from her grip to turn away from her and proceed down the hall.

As he got farther and farther away from her Claudia debated whether to open her mouth, fearing if she let him go, he'd only return with the girls to compel her to spill.

"They think the bacteria in Spinelli's brain might have reversed his brain damage."

He stopped in his tracks, but didn't face her for he was trying to remember if Spinelli had ever mentioned being brain damaged.

"Apparently, he was in an accident a few years ago in his hometown and woke up a different person," she walked towards him, "The bacteria they believe has eaten the scaring of the tissue that was layered on the original."

"So," Johnny slowly turned around, "Leaving his alter ego."

"Exactly," she stopped in front of him, "John, Dr. Scorpio and Dr. Drake told me that Maxie nor Lulu or many others know of this."

He could sense what Claudia was hinting about and as annoyed as he was still at both his girl friend and his one time friend, he didn't think it was right keeping them in the dark.

"Because if he wakes up as someone else they'd be…"

"Devastated," she finished, but cautioned him, "Now I don't like Lulu and Maxie, but if he woke up as not the genuine loving person we know…"

Before Johnny could respond Robin came from the OR removing her scrub hat, "Claudia…"

"I understand," he whispered to his sister before she turned to Robin to hear her news.

"The surgery went as expected."

"Which means…" Claudia looked at her to obviously elaborate.

"Well while Patrick and Noah were removing the bacteria they noticed that some of the tissue it had grabbed onto was entirely dead as in the layers underneath the suspected point of chronic injury had nothing preserved," Robin sighed as she finished her sentence.

"So in my lingo that means what exactly?" Claudia looked at her wondering what she just said.

"What it means is that in the right temporal lobe of Spinelli's brain, visual memory, is preserved…"

Johnny spoke up, "So he'll remember us?"

"Possibly, most likely," Robin nodded, "The bacteria didn't effect his memory or even short term memory. He will wake up remembering everything that he remembered before except some of his verbal memory."

"I don't understand," Claudia frustratingly whined, "You just said he would have his memory intact."

"He will, but Patrick and Noah believe that the function of this lobe of the brain that creates names for people and objects has been restored to that they will remain as nicknames, not permanent names for us."

"So…" Claudia lingered again.

"Claudia," Johnny turned to her in a snap, "He just won't be calling you the lady in red or me the mob prince anymore right, unless he's teasing us?" Johnny looked at Robin wondering if that's what this basically meant.

"Correct John, he may even remember what he used to identify people and objects as, but the chances of him using those same names in the frequency that he used them in, is mostly likely gone. He would find it a mute point to call me the maternal one when my name is Robin Scorpio."

The only problem Claudia had with this explanation was that Spinelli was already beginning to change his speech. Days if not a week before the surgery, he was speaking more of an adult they cyber geek. Was it an odd coincidence or was something else going on?

"My only problem with your diagnosis doctor is that Spinelli was already in the process of speaking normally because isn't that what your basically saying now doctor? That Spinelli will be normal now?"

"No that's not what I'm saying," Robin annoyingly looked at her as if Claudia was implying she wasn't being sensitive about who Spinelli is.

"Then what are you saying?" Johnny impatiently asked her.

Robin calmly looked at them trying to explain this the easiest way possible, "Infections can take days if not a week to develop before the human body begins to feel the effects."

Robin raised her voice to keep Claudia from missing anything she was about to say, "You recalled as have I that Spinelli was suddenly able to talk clearer than he ever had been before. Obviously this was not a confidence issue, this was the fact that the bacteria had already attacked the brain."

"Why didn't we pick up on this when he was readmitted to the hospital?" Johnny curiously asked wondering how a significantly developed brain infection had gone unnoticed.

Robin nodded at the god question presented to her, "First, Spinelli was readmitted for other problems, secondly there was no need to run a CT scan or MRI for a mild concussion."

After Johnny seemed to understand, Robin went back to answering the overall question, "Back to what I was saying, infections don't immediately effect a persons health until they are fully developed. Maxie said that Spinelli wasn't feeling well the day before he was admitted to the hospital, those Flu like symptoms are common for someone with an infection."

"I should have known," Johnny nodded as if this was his fault, "I should have got help sooner."

"No John," Claudia retorted back, "It was that twit!"

"No it wasn't," Robin raised her voice, "It wouldn't have mattered if Spinelli came into the hospital that day or five minutes before he was admitted, Spinelli's infection was too advanced."

Claudia rolled her eyes, "Yeah well…"

"Well," Robin mocked her, "As I was going to say earlier before I had to explain at a rudimentary level…"

"Are you insulting me Dr. Scorpio?" Claudia grimaced at her.

"Of course not," Robin giggled, "As I was saying we believe that who Spinelli was before his accident and before this surgery have meshed together."

"Wait," Johnny interrupted, "I thought it was just his…" Johnny couldn't find the right term but used his hands to express verbal, "Um."

Robin caught on, "No, we believe he will be experiencing changes in personality as well."

"What kind of changes?" Claudia asked in disbelief, would the sweet loving man be no more?

"That we don't know because neither of us knew who he was like before the accident," Robin sighed, "We've tried contacting his grandmother in Oakfield, but she's apparently still on vacation. We won't know anything until he wakes up."

"When will that be?" Claudia looked at her very eager for that event.

"Early tomorrow morning," she believed that was the best guess considering it was about 4 in the afternoon now so 4 in the morning might be reasonable.

"Tomorrow morning?" Claudia asked disappointed.

"What did you expect?" She looked at her, "Although the surgery didn't take long, it's still brain surgery."

"Robin," Patrick said her name as he opened the doors, "I have to prepare for a press conference can you make sure Spinelli gets situated in his room."

"Yes," she nodded before looking back at them, "I'm sorry I have to go. I'll have more information later, but as of right now that is all I know."

Claudia watched as she disappeared into the busy OR while Johnny was trying to access the situation, "Well I'm going to go tell Maxie and Lulu."

Claudia quickly snapped her head, "No your not."

Johnny chuckled, "You don't get it do you?"

"John, Robin didn't say to mention this to Maxie, Lulu or anyone else for that matter."

John walked towards her in a rage, "They are his friends Claudia!"

Claudia huffed, "Friends? Must I remind you--?"

"SO what Claudia!" He threw his hands up in the air.

Lulu and Maxie stopped just as they were about to turn the corner.

"SO what if she asked Jason to fire him! Or she might be having some affair with one of the surgeons that saved his life!" He paused out of breath while his hand was aimed at the OR, "It doesn't matter anymore!"

Maxie leaned on the wall of the corner, tears coming to her eyes because it seemed that something had gone wrong. Had what she done not matter anymore because Spinelli was _gone_?

Johnny walked towards her, "It doesn't matter that Lulu won't say yes to me! That she keeps avoiding me as if she'd rather us be strangers than have to tell me that she doesn't love me!"

He shouted once more at her face, "Nothing is EVER going to be the same!"

Claudia stood there with her hands on her hips and her head nodding in disbelief, "We don't know that."

"Yeah we do!" He yelled, "We do because of people like Jason Morgan out there!"

Claudia looked up at him, "Jason is a good guy."

"Who was supposed to be a doctor and woke up wanting to do what we do for a living! Kill people!" He shouted with a whisper, but Lulu and Maxie could hear full well the words he said.

"You didn't kill anyone," Claudia remorsed, "You didn't kill Logan."

"No I killed a little boy," Johnny glanced down at the ground as he felt tears in bleed into his fingers that were touching his tiresome eyes.

Lulu looked away from Maxie's face that changed just as hers did to disbelief.

Claudia looked at her brother, "It was an accident John we were after Sonny."

"It was still an order," Johnny pulled away from his sister's touch, "Just like dad's order to kill Maxie and Spinelli, orders to kill innocent people so I could run a business!"

"John," Claudia softly said his voice, but he interrupted.

"How do you think Spinelli is going to feel when he wakes up and realizes what he's done?" Johnny glanced up at her, "He will never let himself live down the fact that he pushed away, literally, the single most important person in his life."

Claudia looked at him straight in the eye, "He wouldn't have had to respond like that if she had just stopped pressuring him."

Maxie's hand gently hit the wall in the form of a fist. She would never make him feel bad for the pain he was in, never, never intentionally.

Johnny chuckled at her inability to understand anything he was saying, "Well," Johnny looked up at her grimacing her face, "We can't all be perfect like you Claudia." He walked passed her brushing his shoulder up against hers before proceeding down the hall towards the direction of where Maxie and Lulu were.

"John," she turned around to see him stop at the very end of the hall.

As he turned around to face her, he saw Lulu and Maxie standing there with guilty looks on their faces of the truths they had just overheard.

"My point is Claudia," he looked away from them not all leading on that they were right there beside him.

"We've all done terrible things to each other, but we have to forgive each other," his eyes glanced off to their direction, "Or everything we ever were," he turned his attention solely on Lulu and Maxie, "Will mean nothing."

Claudia mysteriously stared at her brother wondering who he was staring at, but by the time she realized who had grasped his attention, the OR doors opened with Epiphany and Elizabeth wheeling a gurney with Spinelli on it.

"We're going to take him to his room now," Elizabeth smiled at the woman, "You can come…"

"I would like to," Claudia nodded where she looked at Johnny who was still fixated on the blonds in front of him.

Elizabeth looked back at Epiphany wondering what to do for it was obvious they had interrupted a private moment. Epiphany of course knew what to do, "We don't have all day Ms. Zacchara."

Claudia looked away from her distant brother, "Of course." She smiled at them wiping a tear from her face and then motioned them to proceed down the opposite way of the hall.

Johnny stared at them not knowing what to say or how to say it, but lucky for him, he didn't have to say anything at all at least not to Maxie.

"Johnny!" Maxie leaned off the wall and into his arms, almost knocking him down. Her arms squeezed tighter as her eyes stayed closed thinking back to the point he and Spinelli accused her infidelity, "I swear John I never did anything with Matt, I'm completely loyal to Spinelli."

"I know," he squeezed her tighter while looking at Lulu who found it harder to follow his words of forgiveness with the revelation she just heard.

"And Jason…" Maxie began to explain, but Johnny interrupted, "Maxie it doesn't matter anymore what you did."

Maxie nodded confusingly pulling away from him, "You keep saying that, why?"

"Yeah why?" Lulu asked with a harsh tone to her voice.

Johnny looked at Lulu, her voice worrying him, "Um the doctors um your cousin," he looked at Maxie, "Robin told us that the surgery was…successful."

"Good, that's good right?" Maxie nervously crossed her arms while wiping her face of the tears, "So he's going to wake up now right?"

Johnny nodded, "Yes," he felt crushed as he sensed the 'but' coming.

"What?" Maxie asked panicky, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Maxie," he said slowly with a scarce voice, "The brain infection that he had was not like any other brain infection."

"I know," she slowly nodded, "Robin didn't get into any specifics, but she said that…"

"Maxie," he interrupted her with dread in his voice, "The bacteria reversed his brain damage."

"What?" Lulu slowly asked walking towards them, "How is that possible…"

"Yeah?" Maxie looked back at him, "How…" She asked growing scared with her hand touching her forehead.

"I didn't really understand the medical part of it," he hastily shrugged his shoulders seeing both their faces grow in concern, "But what she basically said is that Spinelli is not going to talk like he did or be half the person he was when we knew him."

"No," Maxie nodded backing away from him, "No." She graced her hand along her waist as she put it on her hip.

"Maxie, he'll remember us," he reached for her but she pulled away not wanting anyone to touch her, anyone but _him._

"What good does that do?" Maxie snapped at him, her voice cracking, "What good is having him half of him here?"

"I'd rather have part of him than nothing," Lulu upsettingly told her knowing she would too despite what she was saying now.

"Maybe you can deal with it, but…" She turned away from them, "I…" She put her hand on her forehead trying to keep her composure, "I…I…."

"Maxie…" Lulu nervously looked at her waiting for the shoe to drop.

"Calm down Maxie," Johnny approached, "It's going to be okay…" He glanced at Lulu to encourage his words, but he realized quickly that what he thought was a panic attack Lulu thought otherwise.

Maxie looked at Johnny, "You don't understand," she nodded negatively before looking at Lulu, "I…I…" And then she felt a sudden wave of dizziness hit her.

"Johnny catch her!" Lulu screamed and of course he caught her as she began to lose balance and focus.

Johnny looked up at Lulu for an answer, as a barely conscious Maxie was in his hands.

Lulu looked away from his glare to Maxie, "Hey…"

Maxie looked up at her with tears in her eyes, "I can't go back to being just Maxie."

Lulu nodded completely understanding, "You won't," she insisted, "But are you okay?"

Maxie nodded with a smile, a secret communication between them, "Yeah…"

"No," Johnny disagreed, cupping her cheek, "Maxie you're pale. You should lie down."

"Yeah," Lulu looked at Johnny agreeing and then looked at Maxie, "Let me take you home."

"No," she pushed him away, wanting to be alone.

Johnny held onto her believing she really needed them, "Maxie what's going on?"

"Nothing!" She pushed herself away from his grip crying, "I'm fine, I'm just upset!"

Johnny looked at her confused, "Let us help you Maxie."

"How can you help me?" She yelled looking at both of them, "You can't possibly understand what I'm going through."

"Maxie," Lulu stepped forward in an attempt to help her, "You don't have to do this alone."

"Yes I do," Maxie wiped the tears from her eyes, "I always have to do everything on my own because truth be told I am alone. Always have been always will be."

She stormed off before Johnny could suggest talking to Claudia to let her in and before Lulu could remind her that she wasn't alone.

Johnny nodded in confusion as to what all that was about, "Lulu…" He turned to her when her hand coldly hit his cheek.

She angrily pointed her finger at him, "That was for lying to me about your part Michael's shooting."

"Lulu," he began wanting to explain, but she interrupted him.

"I don't want to argue about this right now. When I want to have that conversation, we will have it, but right now Spinelli and…Maxie need us."

"Alright," he slowly said realizing that Lulu could end them right now if she wanted to, maybe he should have more faith in her love for him.

"Johnny—."

"No," he interrupted, "What's going on with Maxie and don't tell me that she's just scared for him."

Lulu puzzlingly stared at him, "I can't tell you. Just get me in to see Spinelli."

"Not until you tell me why you and Maxie seem to understand each other like genuine BFFs."

Lulu annoyingly looked at him, "Please don't use that term with us."

"Then explain why I thought she was having a panic attack and you thought it was just usual business for her."

"Maxie's heart…" Lulu began to make up something from the top of her head, but Johnny interrupted, "Is just the reason why she should be resting or in a hospital at a time like this."

"Forget it," Lulu turned away from him, "I'll get to Spinelli on my own."

"Lulu wait!" Johnny chased after her, "Why can't you just tell me!"

"Because I promised Maxie I wouldn't," she continued walking down.

"I'm your boyfriend!"

"And I'm your girl friend," Lulu quickly turned to him, "And you couldn't tell me that you shot my cousin's son!"

"It was an…" He paused as her cold hand ripped in to his skin, slapping it harsher than before.

"I asked you," she nodded in disbelief, "And you told me you had nothing to do with it."

"I was afraid of…"

"Save it," she pushed him away from her and attempted to turn away from him when he rapidly grabbed her arm and turned her towards him.

"John she's pregnant."

"Whaaaat?" He looked at her confused with his eyebrows intently frowning.

"The night you were arrested, your father threatened Maxie and I guess he scared her so bad that she went to the one person she trusted most…"

"Spin-elli, oh…" Johnny slowly realized what she was explaining.

"She needed someone and he's so in love with her that he couldn't say no, so they had sex and I guess they were so in the moment, a condom slipped their mind."

Johnny released her from his grip, "Oh…."

"Yeah and now you've just told her the man she needs isn't coming back to her," Lulu looked at him like that was real brilliant.

"Why do you need to see Spinelli?" Johnny asked wondering why she wouldn't just ask for him to convince Spinelli to see Maxie.

"I just need to."

"That's not an answer Lulu," he looked at her needing to know more information if he was going to work Claudia and persuade Spinelli.

Lulu looked away from him pouting, "I asked Jason to fire Spinelli."

"What?" Johnny looked at her stupidly, "You…Lulu."

She looked up at him to explain herself, "Maxie has been wanting to confirm it for a few days now with Spinelli, but he's been so hung up on Jason and this new threat that she's been too worried and afraid…because she doesn't even know if she wants the baby and--."

"Woah," Johnny interrupted, "Spinelli doesn't even know?"

Lulu nodded, "No and now he's so angry with her, she doesn't know how she's going to tell him and that's why I need to get in to see him so that I can tell him the truth."

"Lulu," Johnny looked at her speechless.

"I promised her I would fix this, so you are either going to help me for their sake or I'll do it the Spencer way and take it into my own hands…."

"Why haven't you given me an answer yet?" Johnny asked as if this was going to decide whether he would help her.

"John can we please not discuss us now. I really think you have no place to talk considering."

"Well considering," he mocked her back, "Answer the damn question Lulu, do you love me or not."

She nodded like this was ridiculous, the fact that he had to question it was most hurtful, "I do love you just not enough to marry you."

He angrily looked at her believing this wasn't the truth. Her reluctance to be honesty with him agitated him beyond reason, "Then maybe you need to do that," he looked at her, "Do it the Spencer way."

They bitterly stared at each other wondering how they got to this point, how other people's problems had torn them apart.

"Fine, warn you guards because this Spencer is striking back and she's gonna hit hard." She turned away from him knowing exactly who to go to in order to pull off a successful scheme.

---

"Scorpio!" David Harper shouted, "We got a couple of drunken army men from Jakes coming in."

"Throw them in the tank for the night," Mac turned to some paperwork when his eyes caught his frantic daughter running in to see him.

"Dad," she hugged him.

"Heeeeey Maxie…" He concernedly looked down at her petting her blonde curls as if it was his little girl in front of him.

"Dad…" She buried her face in his chest, her tears damping his white dress shirt.

Mac rubbed his daughter's back, soothing her from what he knew was the cause of her sorrow. Looking up from his daughter's raggedy blonde hair he saw his cadets watching TV in the distance. He perhaps wouldn't have cared they were watching the evening news if the upcoming story wasn't featuring Spinelli, "Hey! Turn that off!"

Maxie brushed her face up from his chest to see a photo of Spinelli and the words, "Coming up, find out why Damian Spinelli was rushed back into surgery."

Whether it was morning sickness or Johnny's words ringing in her head, Maxie felt something crawling up her throat.

Mac watched his daughter quickly break free of him to the trashcan, "Maxie!"

One hand grasping the edge of his desk the other the trash can, Maxie felt herself choking in her attempt to prevent herself from showing what was inevitable.

Mac snapped his head at the cadets, "I told you to turn that damn thing off!" When they quickly turned it off he turned to Maxie, "It's okay Maxie, its alright…" Those were the magic words that allowed her to give in to her sickness.

A few minutes later David walked by with a bottle of water and a towel, "Mac…"

By now Mac had his sleeves rolled up, one hand on his daughter's back and the other on his knee. "Thanks," he took the towel and bottle from him.

Mac handed the small towel to Maxie, "Here honey."

"David do me a favor," Mac nodded like he hated to do this, "Call Baldwin since Alexis is with her children, tell him I have a family emergency and to…"

"No dad," she looked up at him wiping her wet watery mouth, "I'll be okay."

Mac wiped his hand through his hair, "Maxie this thing with Spinelli has you…"

"Upset," she filled in the blank, "Nervous…Scared."

"I was going to sign out in an hour anyway," he smiled gently moving to push her hair out of the way.

She put her hand out wanting the water bottle, "I came here to talk to you."

Mac gave her the bottle and nodded, "Alright," he rose up from his knees and turned to David, "Um cancel that I guess."

"No problem sir," he walked back to his desk.

Mac looked down at Maxie who was slowly trying to compile herself together, "It's going to be okay," he bent down to her and kissed her forehead.

"I'm here," he leaned his cheek against her head.

"Can we talk?" She glanced up at him.

He nodded like of course, "Come on let's go into the interrogation room. You can tell me all about it."

She clung onto him as he helped her off the floor and to the interrogation room where Mac pushed the door open. Maxie leaned away from him seeing the damp circular patch from her tears, "I'm sorry dad."

"It's okay," he warmly smiled, "I have another shirt in the office."

She hiccupped her tears while giggling. She wanted to compliment how sweet he being, but was interrupted when two rowdy soldiers in dark navy dress uniforms, "I know your busy dad."

"But never too busy to listen to my beautiful daughter," he gently rubbed his hand along her arm.

She softly smiled at him where he planted a kiss on her forehead, "Sit down I'll be with you in a minute." He turned away from her where she immediately heard a change in her voice, "Lucky! Rodriguez! What the hell is going on here!"

Both detectives tightly gripped their soldiers, "Coleman said they had too much to drink…" Lucky looked at the giggling man next to him who resembled Edward Burns, "We—had a-scot-ch-cha-cha."

Cruz tugged the man in his grip who had short flat brown hair and a face that needed shaved, "More like scotch-cha-cha-ches…" He giggled slurring his words like he was a character Jeremy Piven might play in one of his comedic movies.

Maxie silently laughed at the men as she leaned on the doorframe with her arms cross, seeing there ridiculous selves cheered her up.

"Prewitt" Mac read the nametag of the stocky guy the Cruz just pulled away from the guy last named "Thompson".

"Aye aye sir! James Thompson!" He tilted his head to his friend, "And this is Michael Preee-witttt." He lost his footing in his attempt to introduce his fellow soldier and Mac could barely keep himself from laughing, "Lucky where's the other guy?"

"Oh Brandon?" Michael giggled.

"Such a parrrrr-tttyyy-pooooper," James giggled, "I meeeeaaan, wazzz wrong with a few drinks…" He bent over laughing.

Cruz looked away from them, "He assaulted us when we were arresting these two, but he's sober."

Michael began stomping his foot in disbelief, "We could—die---tomorrow…"

Maxie's soften smile frowned, she had heard these same words from Logan and even Cooper at one time, the way war changed a man was truly a tragic transformation.

James who was still bent over with laughter spoke with the same bitterness, "Blow up," he evilly giggled, "Boom!"

"Privates!" A strong commanding voice entered the room.

The two drunken army men turned around, "Well if it isn't the newly promoted Corporal Brandon Anderson!" James squealed out.

Maxie couldn't believe how the plot seemed to thicken as a tall handsome sharply dressed man in the same uniform entered the room, "Quiet while I try to get us out of this mess."

James cockily smiled, "Always the better soldier…"

Brandon looked away from them and removed his dark Navy blue Army cap that just happen to reveal his slicked dirty blonde Ben Affleck hair, "May I ask who's in charge here?"

Mac stood tall stepping forward, "I am."

"Sir," he grinned showing off his perfectly white teeth, "I haven't had anything to drink."

"Fucking boy scout," Michael uttered under his breath.

Brandon ignored the comment, "My buddies and I are flying out of Fort Hamilton tomorrow…"

"I'm not flying out," James laughed.

"Yes you are," Brandon argued, "This is what we signed up for…"

"No!" Michael hollered, "I didn't sign up to fight someone else's war!"

James joined in, "We've been there for…" He slowly counted his fingers, "Five years and no wea-pons!"

"No Osama!" Michael shrugged his shoulders.

"We have a mission," Brandon profoundly delivered the code, "To serve and prot—ect..."

"Shut up!"

Maxie jumped as James rushed forward grabbing Brandon around the collar, "Stop saying that bull shit!"

"It's not bull shit," Brandon stared directly into his eyes.

"It is! "You can't change people who never wanted change!" James let go of Brandon pushing him away, "We're useless over there! You know it!" James pointed at him and then at himself, "I know it!" He pointed to Michael, "He knows it!" He then looked around the room, "They know it!"

"We were suckers!" James slammed his foot on the ground, "They lied to us! They don't even care enough to send us to a shrink!"

"Maybe…" Brandon began, but Mike interrupted him, "Come on Brandon! After what happened to Mitchell you should know that they aren't looking keep fucked up soldiers like us home."

James looked around at the people they had captivated, he felt like they were entertainment, "And the people here certainly don't give a shit!"

Mac tiresomely nodded, "Okay that's enough," he tugged on James arm.

"Mac watch out," Lucky quickly said as the soldier attempted to hit him, but thanks to his quick actions he received the punch instead.

Maxie on instinct backed away into the interrogation room, one hand on the doorknob, the other covering her waist, unconsciously aware she was protecting someone.

Mac angrily watched as Lucky was thrown off guard by the punch, "Get em out of here!"

Cruz grabbed his man roughly by the arm and excessively pushed him in the same direction that David Harper had grabbed James, "This is how you treat your service men!"

"Mike I got your back!" And James went for round two swinging around his handcuffed fists at Rodriguez while Mike kicked David hard in the stomach.

"Alright!" Mac shouted grabbing James briskly around the collar and slamming him up against the wall outside the interrogation room, "I get it your pain, but that doesn't mean you have any right to come into my department and throw slurs around that we don't care about your sacrifice young man."

"Our buddies die while you…get to be with your families," the man's muffling became soft cries.

"I know it's not fair," Mac sympathized, "And I'm sorry."

This was why Maxie loved her father. Here were two if maybe three troublesome men who started a commotion yet could look past the blood and bruises and understand the scared men in front of him. It was in the way he empathized with others that made her wonder if she'd ever meet someone as understanding as him for all the mistakes she had made. Then it dawned on her although she had realized this plenty times before, but Maxie was reminded that she did know a person like her father, he lied in a hospital bed at this moment and held a special place in her heart.

Mac frustratingly looked away from the man to Lucky and David who were just about ready to kill him, "Boys take him and the other man down to the tank and get them cleaned up."

Cruz ruggedly grabbed Mike and followed the footsteps of his fellow detectives while Mac walked passed him to the third solider in the back who had remained fairly quiet during the entire fight.

"Give me one reason not to throw you in there with the rest of them!"

"Sir," he bent down to pick his hat up, "I like fair fights that's the only reason I punched one of your men, I have a clean record and if you don't believe me," he pointed his hands at the phone, "You can call Dr. Matt Hunter at General Hospital I'm supposed to meet him for dinner in an hour."

"Matt?" Maxie asked, "You know that jerk!"

"Yeah, I know that jerk," Brandon nodded looking back at Mac, "He used to serve with me."

Mac sighed, "Small world, Matt used to live at my house."

"Great," he smiled.

"No it was not great!" Maxie exclaimed.

"Maxie," Mac looked at her to settle down. He looked back at Brandon, "Set him down over there." He pointed his head to a chair near his desk. "He gets one phone call, bail is fifty." The cadet nodded where as Mac turned to Maxie, the cadet set him in the chair.

Mac turned away from him to Maxie, "Hun I'm sorry to have to leave you, but I better make sure those men aren't being given a hard time."

"It's okay dad," she smiled, "We'll talk when you get back."

"Thank you for being so understanding," he softly smiled wishing he didn't have to leave her.

"I learned it from you," she warmly smiled back until he was no longer insight.

As soon as Mac left the room the cadets who were watching the news ten minutes ago turned on the TV, "Darn we missed it."

Brandon could see in the corner of his eye the girl, Maxie, standing in the doorway of the interrogation room, "So…" He looked over his shoulder and then back at the TV, "What makes you think my friend Dr. Hunter is a jerk?"

There was silence and he looked back at her, "Huh?" When he didn't hear and answer he chuckled looking away from her, "She doesn't talk, but she'll make accusations."

Maxie annoyingly snarled at him, "Matt ruined my life."

Brandon laughed, "I doubt that." He looked back at her, "Matt saves lives…at least tries to," he wandered his eyes away from her, "Wasn't so lucky with his best friend and fiancé, but I guess every dog has his day." He looked up at her smiling where Maxie confusingly looked at him, "I'm beginning to think you're drunk."

Brandon amusingly nodded, "I did have a beer," he tilted his head with a huge grin.

Maxie rolled her eyes and Brandon looked away from her to the TV where he saw something that interest him, "Hey turn that up…."

Maxie followed his gaze to hear a news report that she'd rather not hear.

"Good we didn't miss it," a cadet smiled and he turned up the volume.

"_In other news Damian Spinelli, employee of suspected crime boss Jason Morgan…"_

"Well I'll be damned Damian working for the mob, guess that accident messed you up more than I heard," he leaned back in the chair amused.

"…_Who was shot last month saving Commissioner Scorpio's daughter…"_

Brandon slowly glanced at Maxie realizing she was the girl in the picture, "That's you…" The lack of emotion in her face concerned him that this wasn't a cheerful story about the man he believed to know.

"…_From the henchmen of the now deceased crime lord Anthony Zacchara, was readmitted to the hospital four days ago for brain infection."_

"Shit," Brandon intently stared at the screen.

"_Today Mr. Spinelli went under surgery for what doctors are now saying is an incredible discovery for medicine…"_

"Always making an impression somewhere," he glanced back at Maxie who was slowly taking a seat in her dad's chair.

Instantly Patrick Drake's voice came on the screen in a press conference, _"…What we've seen today has proved to us that chronic brain injury can be reversed. How useful that is will be determined when Mr. Spinelli wakes up, but we are hopeful that it will have been successful, thank you." _

"Wow, Damian always said he was going to be in the news, but not like this," he surprisingly nodded as the report came to a final close.

"_Mr. Spinelli was last seen over the weekend with his believed to be girl friend Maxie Jones at a charity concert for General Hospital where he reportedly donated half a million dollars…"_

"Damn Damian you got a cute girl and load cash, living the dream…" He glanced over to the cute girl who was still fixated on the screen of the now finished story, "So…" He spoke loudly so she would look at him. When she did look at him it was a blank stare, but that didn't discourage him, "Wow what are the chances that you not only know my buddy from the Navy, but you're dating my best friend from high school…"

"You know Spinelli?" She asked remembering he was uttering something during the report, but wasn't paying attention to his obnoxious comments.

"Damian?" He had never heard the man being addressed by his last name, "You bet I do. Good man too, a little full of himself, but the best friend a guy could have. How'd you meet Damian?"

"Um I met Spinelli," she emphasized his name, "Well I became friends with him when he helped me find out who killed my sister."

"I'm sorry," Brandon hated the fact that he brought up death.

She nodded like she no longer mourned for Georgie, "It's okay."

An awkward silence set in until Brandon worked up the courage to ask, "So is Damian a detective for your father when he's not working for the mob?"

Maxie giggled, "No he's his own detective with my help sometimes." She widely grinned thinking of all their adventures in the pursuit of the text message killer and Michael's shooter.

"Gosh," Brandon became a little dumbfounded, "So he doesn't play with video games anymore?"

Maxie quickly looked up at him, "Oh he still plays video games. Genius at the computer even created his own video game."

Brandon excitedly smiled, "So he didn't lose his passion after the accident…"

"No," she slowly nodded, "I guess not."

His smile sharpened, "That's good to hear. Damian always wanted to be his own entrepreneur, sell his own software and chain of videogames. Make millions." He giggled in disbelief of his friend's stupidity, "I think he thought if he was a millionaire, somebody important, that he might win the approval of certain people in his life."

"Like his grandmother?" She remembered the conversation they had at Vista Point, the bitch who blamed him for an accident that wasn't his fault.

He nodded profusely, "He knew his granddad loved him, he knew his friends like me had his back, but he always wondered why his grandmother couldn't utter three little words."

"Cause she's a bitch," Maxie told him and he laughed in agreement, "And you haven't even met her."

"I don't want to meet her," Maxie honestly told him with a grin, "Someone who hurt him like that I could never like."

Their giggles turned into another awkward silence until Brandon reached into his pocket, "You want to see a picture of him back in the day?"

"Yeah," she excitedly smiled.

He took the picture out, "This was taken I think a week before we were supposed to graduate, he was in my graduating class when finished a year early, but we grew up together."

She took the picture from his hands and saw that he still had the handcuffs on, "Oh here," she reached into the drawer and gave him the keys.

He looked at her impressed, "You really can handle yourself. Damian must love this bad side of you."

She giggled, "Spinelli doesn't actually believe there is a bad side to me."

"Well women are his weakness," he smiled as he twisted the key in the lock.

"Like most men," she sarcastically retorted.

"I suppose." He took the cuffs off and watched her glance down at the photo.

The first thing she noticed was his hair. It reminded her of the swagger look he showed off at the Haunted Star. His hair cut short at the sides, his bangs out of his forehead. He was handsome.

"You guys just come from a party?" She asked for they dressed up in suits.

"Uh, well our other friend Adam," Brandon pointed the guy in between him and Spinelli on the right, "His father was having a going away party for all of us, see we were all known as the bad ass guys of East Oakland High."

"Yeah right," Maxie giggled like that was the stupidest thing she had ever heard.

"Serious," he nodded, "B for Brandon, A for Adam and D…"

"For Damian?" Maxie guessed completely in disbelief that this wasn't just a silly high school thing.

"And 'ASS' just happened to match our last names," he pointed to himself, "Anderson, Adam's is Sloan and Damian's…"

"Spinelli," she grinned kind of seeing how it worked now. There was something special between them, "Okay so Bad Ass guys of…"

"East Oakfield High…"

"Yeah, you guys were obviously happy about something," she flashed the photo back at him.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "We were all finally getting out of that run down town."

"That's why you were bad asses," she teased.

"Well now you making us sound like a bunch of cocky teenage assholes."

Maxie laughed and Brandon joined in, "We called ourselves that because we had it made."

He elaborated, "Damian's signature phrase was 'help me help you'. We started a business. He tutored and in return got fifty bucks, Adam wrote papers and got a hundred bucks back, I handled whatever they couldn't."

"Cheaters…" Maxie playfully accused.

"Nooo," he lingered, "We were brilliant. We always wanted our own boat and once we had it we could go on as many trips in the wilderness as possible."

"Spinelli…in the wilderness?" She giggled for although Spinelli always managed when they were stuck in the wildest of places she couldn't picture him trying to start a fire.

"Oh yeah!" He looked away with a huge grin, "We listened to that song 'the boys are back in town' over and over again when driving to Cherokee lake."

His face animated as he told the story. In an instant he changed from an uptight soldier to a soldier remembering his youth, "Damian didn't have the patience for a fire even in cub scouts, we had to pull off a scheme so he could get his badge and become eagle scouts with us."

It sounded like her Spinelli. She nodded like the stories were ridiculous, but she enjoyed hearing them, hearing stories about him. It some how made everything else go away.

"Anyway, we made a bet and he was like 'I'll show you'," Brandon nodded his head with a playful grin, "Stubborn ass, sat there for four hours kicking rocks and breaking sticks, getting splinters in his hands, wouldn't give up."

Spinelli had been quite stubborn with her remembering in their first date of investigating the text message killer he was so keen on writing the information down in his chicken handwriting. "So what happened?"

"Well we come back with one small trout," he looked up at her, "And we got soaked just trying to catch the six inch fucker," Brandon seriously looked at her, "Damian looks at us, like we're basically idiots and we look at him like he's an idiot for not just saying to hell with it and using a lighter."

Brandon nodded his head profusely cracking up, "Adam says "Hey Damian, just wondering but how many blondes did you say it takes to screw in a light bulb, is it the same amount to start a fire?' Damian at this point is beyond pissed, his hair is completely frazzled."

Maxie giggled, but Brandon seemed to misunderstand the fact that she was humored because Spinelli's hair is always an unruly mess.

"No you don't understand. If there were three things Damian cared about besides always having his friends back even if it meant getting into a fight, it was his reputation, his appearance and the impression he made on people."

Not like Spinelli was entirely that different now, okay, he was, she told herself as she remembered the very opposite of a clean-cut man.

"So Damian's pissed and when Damian gets pissed because he's been made to look like a fool, he sticks it to you twice as bad as you did it to him."

Maxie looked at him concerned, "What did he do?" She knew it couldn't have been that bad, she hoped it wasn't.

"He made us look like fools," he glanced down at his hat in his hand before looking up at her, "He left with a rifle and fishing kit and an hour later returned with three trout twice the size of ours and a deer…"

"A deer? Spinelli can't even pick up a gun…" She almost regretted saying that because he had that one time, yes he had fired like he knew how to, how odd she thought.

"He must be out of practice or forgotten he had the eye of a tiger because he shot that deer straight on with one bullet and I check the cartridge too. One bullet." He softly smiled looking down at the picture, "We ate like kings that night."

She tried not to stare, but she noticed that somber glare at the photo as if his mind was still reliving that camp story.

Brandon grazed his fingers over the designs of his cap, "That was the last trip we ever went on. In the morning we set sail back to Oakfield and then sold the boat to a bunch of youngsters." He smiled wondering if those kids had as much fun with it as they did.

"We took the money and the night of the party," he pointed to the picture, "we spent five hundred dollars creating the best prank this town had ever seen."

"You know I'm going to ask," she looked at him to of course explain, she had no idea Spinelli had once been this exciting, not like he wasn't before, but just a different type of excitement.

"We snuck out of the party at eight to drive my truck half an hour away to a storage shed where we had twelve cans of green paint, too much toilet paper and a couple cartons of eggs."

Maxie glanced down at the photo staring at Spinelli trying to picture him in every detail Brandon had explained the story in.

"Adam and I broke into the gym and replaced all the balloons that were supposed to fall on the varsity players in the last pep rally with ones filled of green paint."

"Where was Spinelli?"

"He was at the house of the Captain of the football team dumping green paint all over his car and when he saw Tammy…" He paused realizing she probably had no idea who the woman was, "he's probably never mentioned her, she was captain of the cheer leading squad, but Damian lived next door to her. You could say they were…secret friends."

Maxie's ears perked up, ever since Spinelli mentioned her that one night, she wanted to know so much more about this teenage lover of his.

"Anyway when he saw Tammy fucking the captain as if the sex she had with Damian last week didn't happen or mean anything, Damian dumped the last of the green bucket of paint all over them."

"Damn," Maxie uttered not so much for the fact that he poured paint over the woman he loved, but that he had slept with her. This was not love from a distance that Spinelli had explained it to be.

"We picked him up just in time, destroyed our disguises and any evidence, and were back at the party an hour and a half later and no one knew the wiser."

"Wow," Maxie sighed in astonishment, smooth operators.

"The best part was, our little business Damian was primarily in charge of, had set up alliances with every click and local business in town. Everyone was on our side. If there was a tie we forgot to knot, they cleared it up. We were golden and we had the last laugh all because of Damian's brilliant people skills and ability to manage a semi legitimate business."

If Maxie didn't know better it was like the mob and Spinelli was the godfather with Brandon and Adam as his henchmen. She found it kind of cool to be honest knowing deep down it was nothing as serious as the mob world she lived in today.

He looked back down at the photo pointing to it, "So that's the reason why we looked so happy in that photo. Within a week we were saying goodbye to Oakfield for good. I was going to boot camp, Adam was leaving for a special internship in D.C. and Damian was going to conquer the computer science world."

"Sounds like you guys had it all figured out," she glanced up at him with a warm smile.

"So did we," he glanced down at his dark navy blue hat, "So did we, but…" He glanced up her, "well I guess some plans are never meant to be carried out." He put his hat back on somberly smiling at her before looking back up at the TV thinking of the man who was now known as Spinelli.

"Why do you say that?" She looked at him confused, obviously things had gone well for him and Spinelli still had an interest in computers.

"Well," he slowly looked back at her, his fingers nervously intertwined with each other, " Adam died a week later in his father's plane that crashed over the North Atlantic."

"I'm so-orry," she slowly said in a bit of shock wishing she hadn't been nosey.

He bit his lip, "By the time they figure out it was Adam's plane Damian had already been in the car accident that I guess some would say killed the man they knew."

His wandered once more at the photo, "After hearing the loss of my best friends in that first day of training…"

He suddenly paused as Mac's voice echoed the room, "Maxie…"

Brandon looked back at her, "I guess a part of me died too." He reached into his pocket for his wallet.

It was nice photo of all three of him, she wondered if Spinelli had the same photo tucked away somewhere, "Why do you keep this photo?" She asked as she handed it back to him.

He took the photo from her hands and glanced down at it, needing to look at it in order to answer her question, "To remember the good old days I guess. To remember that there was such a time where the world wasn't mad," he formed a smile that Maxie saw as more of a frown.

Maxie stood up from the chair, "When Spinelli wakes up I'll tell him…"

"Uh no," he quickly looked up at her, "I'd rather you not."

She crossed her arms confused, "Why?"

He formed a smirk in the corner of his mouth as he glanced down once again at the photo, "I'd like to remember him like he was in the photo just like I'm sure he'd like to remember me in our memories." Life was so much easier to live in the past than it was in the present Brandon believed. It wasn't that he or perhaps even Damian didn't want to see their friend of yesterday. It was simply the fact that they weren't those men they remembered each other to be. There would be an ache in their pride that the dreams they talked of that one night in the wilderness had not been achieved. Six years had passed. A friend had died and two were left in the rubble of their own psychological wars. Brandon knew Damian or Spinelli would take one look at him and realize the war had robbed him of something he'd never obtain again while whomever lied in that hospital bed knew that Brandon would see a man who had it all and gave it up so he would never have to feel again.

"It's funny," he looked up at her while sliding the photo in the plastic clear covering, "cause we took this photo preparing for the fact that we'd never see each other again." He gazed at the photo knowing the next time he looks at it will be under the moon light in Iraq, "And we were right to prepare because we never would."

Maxie's eyes ignored the side view image of her incoming father and focused on the man slowly closing his wallet and shoving it in his pocket.

"What is he doing with his hand cuffs off and why is that TV on?" Mac looked puzzled as to what happened to the room.

"Dad," Maxie moved in front of Brandon to block her father's view of him, "I took his hand cuffs off and asked them to put the TV on."

"Maxie," he looked at her like that was stupid for she barely knew the man despite his connection to Matt.

"Dad…" She insisted where as the room remained in a gasp as to how he would react, Matt Hunter entered shouting to his buddy, "On your feet soldier!"

Brandon smiled for the little favor of snapping out of the past, "Hey!" He stood up from the chair and hugged him.

"How are you?" Matt asked as they leaned out of the hug, "I heard you made Corporal."

"Yes, but thanks to you," he clapped, "I wouldn't have been able to save those men if you hadn't repaired me so quickly."

"I still don't know how you did it?" Matt shrugged his shoulders, "That artery would not clog up fast enough."

"Well whatever you did worked, I saved those men and then before I knew it I'm having to save you too!"

Brandon turned to Mac and Maxie, "Get's nicked in the neck and suddenly my fingers are plucked in his artery."

Matt added onto the story, "And his bandage came undone so I'm having to pluck my fingers in his thigh until a helicopter comes."

"Well we made out though," Brandon turned to him, "I got my promotion and you got out and came here to Port Charles."

"Yeah well it looks like I'll be on the move again, come on," he quickly turned to Mac, "He's free to go right? I paid up front."

"Yeah," Mac nodded, "Brandon you can pick up your friends early tomorrow morning."

"Thanks," he nodded before glancing at Maxie with a smile, "It was nice to meet you."

"Like wise," she smiled almost wishing she could have had more time with him to learn more about this _Damian _Spinelli who didn't seem like a menace at all not like Spinelli ever said he was, but Johnny had some how created this picture in her mind that he was like Jason.

Mac put his arm around Maxie's shoulder as the two men left the room, "Okay, we can have that big father daughter talk now if you like?"

"Um," she softly smiled, "I'm really just tired right now, I think I'll go home and take a nap."

Mac chuckled, "Actually that doesn't sound half bad." He leaned into kiss her head and the two walked out the PCPD together.

---

The doctor of Neurology leaned his back against the counter of the small lounge in between his office and his fathers where he collapsed his face into his hands. It was a tiresome day at work, as the discovery he made quickly became the gift that kept on giving. A four-hour surgery, half an hour's press conference, an hour-long meeting with doctors here and all over the globe. It was just the thing he needed to remind himself that he was Doctor Patrick Drake, the best Neuron surgeon in the world.

_Beep._

His fingers ran over his eyes, gently rubbing the eyelids. He thought the noise he heard was in his mind, he had heard many beeps today.

_Beep._

Again in his head. He turned to the coffee pot, grabbed him a small styrophome cup, and then poured himself a cold cup of the black liquid. He stirred the coffee while his eyes became fixated on the red numbers on the pot. _2:33. 2:33. 2:33. 2:34._

He slowly snapped out of it where he heard the beep again. Frustrated he reached for his phone. _Robin. _The text message sweetly wrote:

_Don't work too hard, get some sleep. _

_Robin xoxo_

He softly smiled; perhaps he should just go home now. The apartment was a mere twenty minutes away. He could answer his emails tomorrow eerr four hours from now.

_Beep._

It wasn't Robin this time nor had it been the first to times. He looked left then right and then realized in the distance that his fax machine was active. Picking up the cup with his finger tips he strolled into the office and place the cup near the key board before taking a seat. He twirled his chair around to the machine behind him and began reading the note.

Elsewhere in Port Charles the two reunited soldiers stumbled to the doctor's car, "Aww that was fun," Brandon smiled wide, "Thanks for a good time."

"No thank you," Matt laughed, "We were able to drink some beers without getting drunk off our asses like your other friends."

Brandon giggled, "Yeah I got to pick them up soon," he yawned.

Matt unlocked the car before looking up at him, "What were you and Maxie Jones talking about?"

"What's it to you?" Brandon swiftly asked.

"Eh you got nothing on me," Matt looked at him caught red handed.

"You like that blonde chick, don't you?" Brandon goofily grinned at him.

"Maybe," Matt tried not to make it obvious.

Brandon laughed hard, "Well you got stiff competition with my old pal."

"Old pal?" Matt slowly stopped as they came to the car.

"Damian and I go way back, grew up together," Brandon walked around the front of the car to the other door, "I just shared some stories of what he was like." He opened the car door where he hit his head upon entering the car. "Son of a bitch!" He retorted as he fell into the car seat.

Matt giggled as he took his seat, "So what was the blabbering geek like back in the day?"

Brandon looked up at him seriously, "He wasn't a geek," he reached for his seat belt, "And he didn't blabber either."

Patrick's eyebrows furrowed.

_To Whom It May Concern:_

He skim read the letter and looked onto the other pages where adjectives and adverbs stood out to him.

"Sorry man," Matt put his hands up in defense, "didn't mean to hit a nerve."

"You didn't hit a nerve, I'm just saying that he wasn't the village idiot you've been making him out to be all night long…" Brandon quickly turned away from him grabbing the seat belt.

Matt scarcely looked at him, "I'm sorry if you had said something."

Brandon turned back, "I mean Damian was a smart guy, sometimes too smart for his own good." He forced the seat belt in, "Believe it or not the guy could be really cold if he wanted to be."

He saw Matt's blank stare, "Yeah! Always believed in fair fights and if you rubbed him the wrong way he'd make sure you regretted it. He'd come up with these brilliant, but relatively harmless plans to show people who was in charge."

Patrick leaned back to his cup of coffee brining the papers with him back to his desk where as he read them he took small sips of the steaming liquid.

Matt turned way from him starting the car up, "Sounds like a bully."

"No," Brandon raised his voice, "It wasn't like that."

Patrick re-read the words of the said report in front of him, the report that a certain doctor had complained of not being able to fine, but was suddenly faxed to him entailing the personality of type(s) of Damian Spinelli.

"How was it then?" Matt looked at him point blank.

"We stood up for ourselves," Brandon proudly grinned, "He was Robin Hood."

_ISTP, INTJ, ISFP, INFJ…_Patrick repeated to himself over and over again until he heard a knock at the door that startled him so bad he spilt the coffee on the documents.

"Patrick, what are you-why are you--?" Noah walked in looking just as tired as Patrick.

He quickly wiped the coffee ff the papers and jolted to his father, "Four personality types dad."

Patrick nervously stood there as his father looked over the documents, "What if-what if we just opened Pandora's box."

"Son," he looked up at him, "It was opened before he got to us."

Room 411 had been alone for many hours, but darker for much longer. The room lacked warmth and with the presence of the Zacchara siblings it stayed cold despite their tender feelings for the lad that lied unconscious.

"Robin Hood?" Matt laughed starting the car up, "You're more drunk than I thought."

Brandon glared at him in annoyance that he refused to believe the words out of his mouth, "Eh maybe." A part of him hoped Damian would resurface just to show Matt Hunter and everyone else that he was right, that Brandon Anderson was right when he said that Damian Spinelli was the Robin Hood of their time.

"This should make for an interesting case study Patrick," Noah looked up at him, "We have four personalities and at best the strongest out of the two will come forward."

362 880 seconds, 6048 minutes, 100.8 hours or otherwise known as 4.2 days Damian Spinelli had lived in a coma.

"I guess the question is," Patrick looked up from the papers, "Will they collide?"

---

Movement began in the fingers of his left hand. Movement stopped in his fingers of his right hand. Movement began in his left arm. Movement abruptly stopped in his right. The left hand slowly rose from the bed to that of dry lips. Lips that as his fingertips touched remembered they were once moist by another pair of lips. A woman had been here, Maxie had been here, but she wasn't here now he realized as his eyelids opened to an empty chair.

"The night is darkest just before the dawn."

His right hand slowly formed a fist that gently hit the cushion of the bed, remembering the terms in which she had to be vanished from this room.

"And I promise you, the dawn is coming."

Someone has some explaining to do.

* * *

Author's Note: An odd chapter I will say. Don't expect Spinelli to be gone, the man we love is very much alive as is Damian. When writing this chapter it took on a life of it's own where I really investigated the bacteria storyline which is somewhat accurate to the research I did. The chapter foreshadowed the futures of many characters. I hope you were paying attention.

Next chapter: The name's Spencer, Lulu Spencer and she's on a mission.

PLEASE REVIEW! Seriously, tell me whatever is on your mind! Good/Bad.


	21. What I've Done

Author's Note: Chapter is primarily about Lulu. Last chapter she'll be in for a while. Yay! Right? Though I like the way she's written in my story. Lol. Enjoy! It's a lot of drama. Kind of an annoying chapter cause I wanted to be working on the next one, but oh well. It is what it is.

Chapter 21

"The name is Spencer, Lulu Spencer and today I washed away _**what I've done**_."

---

"Lulu," Milo nervously whined as he saw Lulu poking her head around the corner, "I don't know about this.

"Do you want me to help you with Leyla or not?" She glanced back at him where her eyes scanned further behind Milo, "Max…Do you want Diane to have that new Prada bag that Maxie said we're getting into the office next week?"

"Of course," Max hesitantly nodded, "Of course I want her to have nice things."

"Like a good man," Carly snuck up behind them where Lulu exclaimed, "Carly!" She turned to her with a hug.

"Mrs. C," Max smiled brightly.

"What's a scam without me?" Carly smirked and ran towards her in a hug.

"Thank you!" Lulu excitedly jumped up and down.

"I'm a Spencer too," she giggled with Lulu, "Put me to work."

"Okay!" Lulu dragged her to the corner, "Alright. I've got the guards figured out."

"But you need to get rid of Johnny and Claudia," Carly poked her head out.

Lulu looked with her where they saw Claudia leave the room to answer a phone call and then disappear into the main room of the floor.

"The boss is going to get really angry," Max nervously bit his lip, "Can't…"

Carly rolled her eyes looking back at Max, "I'll handle Sonny." She glanced back at Lulu, "I'm going to follow Claudia and create a diversion."

"Good idea!" Lulu smiled where she looked around the corner, "Now I just have to…" She paused seeing the master of all schemes standing outside Spinelli's room.

"Looks like we just figured out our next move," Carly sneakily smiled, she loved this stuff.

Lulu nodded as she watched Johnny exit Spinelli's room to shake her father's hand.

"Coast clear," Carly looked away from Luke and Johnny who started to walk down the opposite of the hall.

"Great!" Lulu cheered turning to Milo, "Okay follow my dad and call me when they're on their way back."

"I'll do the same with Claudia," Carly began to turn the corner, "Good luck." She wished and then looked at Milo, "Come on boy! Chop chop, Lulu needs you!"

"Right," Milo glanced at his brother realizing they couldn't back out now.

Lulu watched as Carly and Milo went about their ways and then turned to Max, "Okay put the ski mask on."

"Lulu," he pouted taking the mask from her.

"Shush," she said looking back at the hall, "Now I'm going to walk down the hall, stop in front of the guards and then your going to grab my purse." She waited for an okay, but heard his grumblings instead, "Max."

"Don't you want to prove to Diane how much you love her?" Lulu removed a black wig from her black purse.

"Yesssss."

"Then put the mask on," she looked down at him as she threw the wig on and then removed her small compact to check herself out, "How do I look?"

"Like Cher," he grinned.

Lulu giggled as she pushed away the last blonde strands, "Well let's hope I can turn back time."

"I love that song!" Max shouted.

Lulu looked up at him, "You listen to Cher?"

"Uh no," his jaw left hanging, "What I meant is that…Diane loves that song."

Lulu oddly stared at him and then quickly shook her head, "Okay I'm going to forget what you just said. Come on."

The two security guards stood outside Spinelli's room like they had for almost a week now. Since Spinelli had woken up three days ago their job had become quite stressful, but they remained strong with Claudia limiting visits from the press and doctors to just a few hours. She had no patience for her friend to be treated like a lab rat she explained to them a dozen times and they understood perfectly. Every person that entered the area became an instant person of interest.

"Bob," the young thirty-year-old man jabbed his shoulder gently into the other guard.

"It's just a girl Ben," odd looking for they didn't know what she was doing in a long black coat with a leather gloves on and a black Lenin cap. It was summer out. "I don't think we have anything to worry about," the older man gently patted his back. He looked up optimistic, but never the less dismissed her as she continued walking towards them.

Lulu reached for the map of the hospital and stopped right in front of them. Show time. Bring on the Russian accent. "Oh no." She pouted looking up and down from the map, "I don't understand."

The two guards looked at each other becoming disheartened by her outbursts of frustration.

"Ma'am?" Bob sweetly poked his head in her bubble, "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she flared her arms up in the air before bringing on the water works.

"Oh there's no need for that," Bob gently patted her back where he glanced up at his partner to help out.

"Right, where ya headed miss?" Ben walked over to her taking the map.

"Uh, da ICU?" She looked up at them, "I've never been to Am-er-ica."

"Who's in the ICU?" Ben asked having no idea Lulu would shout upsettingly.

"It's okay," Bob softly where he looked away from her and playfully hit the young man to be more sensitive.

Lulu could see in the corner of her eye the two guards were distracted. Her hand moved to her shoulder where her fingers flicked to send a signal to Max.

"Babushka!" Lulu exclaimed, "My babushka!"

The younger man looked up from the map, "You said ICU?"

"Yeeeessss!" Lulu exclaimed with loud cries, "My babushka!"

Bob could see the younger man struggling not to laugh, "Miss we're going to find your ba…"

"Babushka!" Lulu quickly turned to them revealing her 'fake' tears.

"Yes," Bob nervously nodded until he saw a nurse, Elizabeth Webber.

"Nurse!"

Lulu looked up at her in terror.

"Nurse, can you show this lady here where the ICU is?" The old man asked but Lulu swiftly turned to him, "No! I'za don't trust anyone else but d'ou."

The old man looked up at the nurse who was trying to cover her smirk, "Um…"

"Your such a nice man," Lulu tugged on his uniform while looking in the corner of her at Max who poked his head around the corner.

The old man began to look when Lulu screamed, "Please someone help meh!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," the old man motioned to comfort her when suddenly he lost his balance to a man, Max, that bumped into Lulu and took her purse.

"Oh no!!!!" Lulu shouted, "my pass port!!!!" She turned to the old man as Max turned the corner, "Do somethin'!"

The guards were speechless, they didn't know what to do, but Elizabeth angrily looked at them, "Your security guards! Secure the area!" Within seconds they were gone.

Lulu smiled and glanced at Elizabeth, "I owe you."

Elizabeth grinned widely before walking off in the direction of the nurse's station.

Lulu quickly looked around and then rushed into the room locking the door, pulling the blinds down and pushing a chair up against the door for extra precaution.

"Spinelli!" She turned to him taking her hat and wig off and putting her gloves in her pocket.

She expected him sitting in the bed, perhaps confused, but never the less not doing or looking at her the way he was.

"Lulu?" He questioned with his eyes glancing up from the New York Times.

"Of course it's Lulu silly," she threw the wig on the chair, "Who else would it be?"

He glanced back down that paper, "I know who you are." He glanced to the right of the paper, "I just don't understand what you are doing in my room."

"Spinelli?" She confusingly looked at him. She never understood why he was hell bent on keeping her out of here. The only people whom he was aware of the fact that had betrayed him where Maxie and Jason.

"That's my name…actually," he looked up from the newspaper, his eyes rolled up at the ceiling, "My name is Damian." He thought for a second, amused by the fact that everyone kept calling him Spinelli.

Lulu inched forward when Spinelli looked at her, "Don't come any closer my not so fair Lulu because I know you're here to do Maxie's bidding."

"Spin."

"Don't interrupt a man while he's speaking Lulu," he sneered, "I know I was out of control. I am fully aware of my behavior and for that I am genuinely sorry, you can tell her that."

She watched him glance down at the paper, which immediately compelled her to walk up to him and rip the paper from his hands.

"Thank you," he grinned, "I was only going to use that to find a new job."

"First you don't need to find a new job because you work for Jason and secondly you can tell Maxie yourself that you're sorry."

He croaked laughing, "Maybe nobody has brought you up to speed with what happened considering you went missing the day I lost everything in my life, but I don't have a job because our bad blonde on Ms. Maxie Jones asked Mr. Stone Cold to fire me."

"No she didn't," Lulu raised her voice.

"Don't cover for her," he agitatedly crossed his arms.

"I can't cover for her if she didn't do anything wrong."

"She had me fired!" He laughed hysterically.

"No I did!"

He paused for a moment, sternly glaring at her, "Now you lie for her?" He chuckled, "Wow hell must have really froze over while I was out."

"I'm telling the truth," she seriously looked at him, "I was pissed because I lost my job that day."

"Right," Spinelli smiled as his hand touched his chin, "And let me guess it was Maxie's fault."

"It was actually," she grinned unbelievably, "Kate misunderstood me in my attempt to help her so she was just about to fire me and I resigned."

"So I'm supposed to believe that you were so angry that you decided to even the odds and take away something from her?"

Lulu smiled sinisterly, "You bet and what better than to take away you."

"Lulu," he looked at her critically with his hands sternly rubbing his mouth, "Do you know what your saying? I mean do you fully know what you're admitting to here?" Not that he really believed a single word she was saying.

"Yes," she blankly stared at him, "Spencers take responsibility for their actions err at least try and I won't leave here until you know the whole truth."

Spinelli comically laughed, "Lulu we both know you didn't do this."

It had to be believable. "Yes I did." She walked towards him where she planted her hands on his bed. "I turned you against the woman you love and this is how I did it."

She swiftly turned away from him realizing that being honest with him wasn't going to work. He would be just like Dillon and refuse to believe she had a manipulative deceitful hurtful bone in her body. Time to bring on the ruthless Screw You Lulu lady Spencer. She turned to him no longer as his Fair Friend, but as a menace.

"I knew I couldn't threaten him using his son's paternity so I reminded him of the dangerous life he lives. A life without his son, a life without love, a life that would be yours if he didn't fire you."

He had lived long enough with Jason to know that was his weakness, the inability to have a family. "Noo, you-you didn't do that," he looked at her doubtfully, "You didn't guilt him into this…"

"Of course I did. All I had to do was drop a few names: Jake, Michael, Elizabeth, Carly, Emily… Geor-gie."

Spinelli looked away from her, "I don't believe you."

"Tell that to my face," she walked into his rear vision where he swallowed hard and then glanced up at her, "I don't believe you."

"You know Dillon said the same thing when I told him that I lied about Georgie and Diego, I thought someone as bright as you could smell a scheme in the making."

"I smell one now," he looked at her not believing he could be conned.

"No that's your heart trying to convince you that I'm not right," she smirked, "Because if I was to be right then you blamed Maxie for something she didn't do, which means you did a lot more to her than rough her up a bit."

He stared at her in denial before slamming his fist on the bed chuckling, "Lulu you did not do this!"

She stood poised, her arms crossed her foot tapping, she had to look like his emotions were going to affect her quite yet. To appear as a cold heartless bitch you must act like one.

He pointed at her, "I know you didn't do this because we decided a long time ago that we weren't going to parade each other's lives and tell each other how to live, who to love and who to be friends with."

"I broke the rules we made."

He gritted his teeth, "No you didn't."

"Yes-I-did."

"Stop saying that!" He exploded in a fit of rage.

"I did!" She stormed at him roughly grabbing his cheeks forcing him to look at her, "I went to Jason knowing my words would plot the idea, but not push him because what would I know about your happiness right? Not your best friend right?" She looked at him almost hurt still at how much he had grown dependent on Maxie versus her.

"But the woman you love," she agitatedly smiled, "Now that would be all the power in the world over him because his violence stole away every glimmer of happiness in her life." His eyes. His eyes told her now. She had him.

"She wanted to talk to you, to be honest about everything, but after what happened with Lucky and Elizabeth I advised her to go to Jason because you already had enough on your plate," she almost smiled at herself delivering genuine explanations.

He pushed her hands away from his cheeks in objection, "I could have handled whatever she had to tell me!"

"Could you?!" She screamed at his bedside, "You already felt guilty about hurting her the first time and after a wonderful date you didn't want her to know that your shoulder was in more pain than it ever was before. Because it was wasn't it?" She saw his displeasure where after she continuously pegged him with the same question he shouted, "So what!"

She leaned away from him in his outburst where he explained himself, "Alright I was in pain." He looked away from Lulu, "Sunday morning it was hurting really bad like someone had flipped a switch." He genuinely looked up at her, "I didn't tell her about it because she's been keeping something from me and I thought if I just ignored it that she might tell me what's been bothering her."

"And you can't see that she was trying to protect you as well?"

"Protect me from what!" He exclaimed, "What does she not want me to know LULU!"

"I don't know!" She lied, "All I know is that because you made us no forced us to be friends she entrusted me with every insecurity she had…"

"And you turned that against her?" He assumed that he was supposed to believe that.

"Like taking candy away from a baby." She turned away from his bedside where she closed her eyes knowing this would be final strike. "I was really quite surprised at how serious she was about this whole friendship thing." She turned to him standing at the foot of his bed, "She confided in me about everything Spinelli even the arguments she had with you that morning and the day before."

The light bulb was turned on, he was beginning to see how the events came together. "I KNEW Jason had been a touchy subject which is how I knew the second he fired you, you'd turn to Maxie and I could walk away with my hands clean…"

He nodded in disbelief, it was absurd to him. "See Spinelli," she slowly walked towards him, "I was on the tape too. You even saw me I bet?" She took his refusal to look her in the eyes as a yes, "And yet you were so determined to investigate her."

His mind was processing things, analyzing every piece of thought to be substantial evidence when in reality it was circumstantial.

"Why Spinelli?" She slowly stopped in front of him, "Why couldn't you believe that I cared enough about you to ask you be let go that you have a safe and danger free life, a real chance with Maxie?"

She planted her hands on the bed and slowly leaned forward looked at his displeasured face of her close proximity, "Because you know in your heart that I would never take an interest in your life unless it benefit me." She had to prove her character was that demeaning to him.

"No," there friendship was not like that he convinced himself, it was not one sided.

"So you believe that I could tell Jason you genuinely deserved those things, but you can't believe Maxie's sincerity?" She leaned away disapprovingly nodding at his foolishness.

He huffed and he puffed and he blew that house down when he turned to her in an almost non-related rebuttal to her words at least that was how she interpreted it, "She hurt my pride Lulu!" He touched his heart, "And I didn't think I cared about my pride until she took away the one thing that defines me!"

"Spinelli?" Lulu rolled her eyes, "Why do you think that working for Jason defines who you are?"

"Because! Being good with computers is all I know! I've never had anything else to depend on!" He slowly calmed down. His right hand still touching his heart while his left was in a fist and tears were becoming visible, "At the end of the day when I would come back from a failed attempt to gain your love or when Jolene was shot or when Georgie died or when Maxie said she regretted us being together that night, Jason always had something for me to do. If I didn't want to do it he understood, but he knew that I would do it because working on a project for him was better than feeling."

She watched as he crumbled in front of her, her Spinelli was very much alive. She sat beside him putting her hand in his as he let everything out, "It was better than having to deal with the fact that I once again put blind faith in that people could be trusted with my heart."

"When I came to Port Charles I trusted no one until I met you." His hand on his heart wiped the tears from his eyes, "There was something about you Lulu when I met you that I could relate to. It was that small connection of never feeling wanted by our parents that reopened my heart."

"You reopened mine," she softly spoke, squeezing his hand.

He smiled at her, but shortly glanced away. "But I forgot," he began to grunt, "That with opening your heart to the joys of love also came the sorrows and deep agonies of it." His bitterness softened, "Working for Jason controlled what I could feel because there's always something to do. A new threat, a new adventure, a new conquest. It was always there when no one else was."

Lulu watched as he slowly simmered down and then softly said to him, "You always tell me love is a journey: the conquest of finding the one, the adventure we go on to obtaining that person and securing that bond we've developed with them."

"I'm a hypocrite," he looked up at her smiling.

"No," she slowly nodded, "You're right." She smiled before grinning widely up at the ceiling as she thought of something to add onto his logic, "I asked Elizabeth what happened between her and Lucky," she glanced down at their hands. "I asked why they fell apart," she looked directly into his eyes, "And she honestly told me that it wasn't the lies or the affairs or the trust that had been broken." She looked at him almost confused, but knew that she was about say something profound, "She said that she and Lucky had a bond that would have kept them together with Cameron and Jake for years, but they wouldn't have been happy."

"It would have been easy."

Lulu smiled, "Yes, it would have been easy, but Elizabeth said that real love should be exciting and fresh and different from anything you've ever felt, something worth fighting for. Love shouldn't be safe."

Spinelli looked up at her, "Well I know someone whose been using that advice a lot lately."

Lulu giggled, "My point is though, you and Maxie are great at friendship and maybe after all this you two will realize that maybe loving each other doesn't mean having a life together," she paused seeing that was not what he wanted to hear.

"Or," she looked into his eyes, "Maybe you'll realize that it's going to be really hard and you two are going to have to let go of everything that's ever happened to you in the past and with other people and just live in the moment with each other day to day."

He looked away from her where she talked once more to gain his attention, "But Spinelli." Lulu squeezed his hand, "You are going to have to take a leap of faith. You both will. You deserve it to yourselves to fight this out."

"There's nothing left to fight for Lulu," he ripped his hands out of hers.

"Why?" She snapped humorously, "Because you had a few bad days? Because you two said and did things two each other that can't be forgiven?" She nodded like that was ridiculous, "You're just going through a rough patch right now, but your feelings for each other are the same."

She could see he wasn't so sure anymore and realized she had to remind him of that magical night Maxie spoke so highly of to her, "I saw the way she looked at you on that stage and I saw the way you looked at her." She softly smiled at him where he looked into her eyes, "We all saw it. Some how seeing the deep abiding affection you two had for one another left no doubt in our minds that you two were in love." She attempted to take his hand again where she gently turned his face to hers, "And it sounds stupid to let that go to waste because of me."

"Lulu," he uttered in a whine, but she interrupted, "Spinelli when I suggested she ask Jason to fire you, she told me flat out she could never do that." She smiled thinking back to that moment, "Because you'd miss him too much and I said he'd miss you more."

His eyes slowly closed as he leaned back on the pillow in a calm rage, "So theoretically then if you asked Jason to fire me then what did she ask of him?"

"You get a vacation," she slowly mouthed.

"A vacation?" He looked at her unnerved. _A vacation? _The thought taunted him, how innocent. His right hand cupping his own cheek in disbelief, "So what you're basically telling me is that," he licked his dry lips while his left hand pressed his pupils.

"She wanted…"The glare she never wanted to receive was drawn upon her and she explained in crystal clear words what she had been trying to tell him. "What I'm telling you is that after hearing both our requests, Jason made the decision to fire you and…" And then the other shoe dropped. The moment she had been waiting for came.

"I blamed her…" He said slowly realizing for the first time since the beginning of their conversation what Lulu had been trying to tell him, what he had refused to hear. "I…I blamed her for something she," he sadly chuckled, "didn't do."

"I'm sorry…" She motioned to touch his cheek, but he leaned away, "That you destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me?" He hurtfully looked at her before slowly sliding his hand from her.

"Spinelli I didn't know…" She motioned to grab his hand, but he flared it up in the air.

"It doesn't matter Lulu!" He briefly shouted before his jaw locked.

"I didn't mean it to happen like it did honestly!" She reached for him, but he pulled away, "Well it did!"

"NO!" Lulu's eyes grew wide where as she attempted to cup his cheeks his fist pounded the bed and exclaimed, "I said things I can't take back!"

"I know!" She cried while managing to cup his cheeks.

He whimpered in front of her, his fingers batting the tears in his eyes that streamed down his face, "It's worse enough that I roughed her around, but now I have to find a way to forgive myself for verbal abusing her as well!"

She nodded 'no' "Listen to me!"

"NO!" He grabbed her wrists, "LISTEN TO ME!"

"She doesn't hold it against you Spin," she tightly held onto his cheeks where as her thumbs stroked his skin his hands fell from her wrists and grabbed his heart, "But I DO!"

"I do," he faintly told her as his hands squeezed an invisible heart, "I don't even deserve her now! Matt does!"

"NO!" Lulu's eyes grew wide, "Listen to me! She loves you and only you!"

"Oh that's just great! She loves me! WELL HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LOVE MYSELF! HUH!" He forcefully grabbed her hands off his cheeks where he struggled to gain control of her movements, "IF YOU'RE SO SMART LULU! HOW!"

"I'm sorry!" She screamed losing the battle against him.

"You're sorry!" He heartlessly looked at her wishing he didn't have to do this, but knew he had to, "Well how's this for sorry, get out of my room!" He pushed her away releasing her from his grip, "GET OUT!"

"What the hell are you doing in here!" Claudia shouted in the doorway where Lulu immediately stood up from his bedside exposing Spinelli's face, "What did you do to him?"

Lulu couldn't believe she never heard the phone ring, but wished right about now she had. She slowly turned to him where before she could say anything his lips trembled, "You and I are not friends, not anymore, not ever." He looked away from her where her voice cracked, "No…"

He cleared his throat of tears, "I do."

"No you don't!" She lunged forward where as she tried to touch him he shrieked, "Don't touch me!" But she had some how grabbed hold of his hand, "Spinelli please."

"You turned me against the woman I love!" He paused breathing rapidly while hearing Claudia say a shocking "What?"

He ignored Claudia stepping further into the room and kept his eyes glued on Lulu's, "I will NEVER forgive you for that! NEVER!" He ripped his hand out of hers.

"No this just a fight we're having," she leaned forward where he screamed, "I HATE YOU!"

She stopped breathing seeing the aggression spelled on his face as he said those words.

"Hey!" Patrick shouted running into the room, "What's going on?"

Claudia grimaced her face, "Lulu was just leaving." She walked towards her grabbing Lulu by the arm and dragging her arm, "Grab your shit!"

"Spinelli!" Lulu yelled as she took her hat and purse, but not able to grab her wig fast enough.

He didn't want to see her leave, but he couldn't deal with the ultimate betrayal. He folded his hands into his face as the door slammed shut leaving him and Dr. Love in the room.

Claudia let go of her in a thrust where as soon as she saw Lulu turn to her she slapped her hand clear across her face.

"LULU!" Johnny shouted from down the hall.

Claudia looked away from her concerned brother to Lulu holding her cheek in shock, "I'll have you killed before you ever walk down the isle to marry my brother."

Lulu looked at her completely appalled never believing she was this ruthless, "You'd kill the woman your brother loves?"

"I'll do anything to protect John and the family name," she crossed her arms, "And if you really love my brother you'll leave him before I ever have to take those drastic measures."

Lulu slowly glanced at Johnny walking down the hall, "He'll never forgive you."

"I can handle that, but what I can't handle is seeing a manipulative bitch ruin the lives of two good men," she snarled at her hoping she'd never see her again.

Lulu looked up at her with lost eyes, "You win. You win Claudia." The smile displayed on her face made Lulu's insides turn, but not because the woman was truly sick or because she knew this would send Johnny spiraling out of control, but because secretly this was the excuse she needed to walk away.

She saw the blinds to Spinelli's windows open and saw Patrick glaring at her. She saw Spinelli's hands folded on his face. The only friend she could turn to didn't want anything to do with her. What was she to do now?

Patrick turned away from the window seeing the blonde walk away, "Take a deep breath." He looked at Spinelli who was quietly muffling his tears, "Damian…"

"Maximista…The Jackal is an idiot," Spinelli ran his hands through his hair just above the bandages.

Patrick smirked walking towards him, "Do you remember Spinelli when you helped me at Jakes with Robin's blog?"

Spinelli shrugged his shoulders wondering what that had to do with him.

"If you hadn't helped me set my own blog up and fix that prank we pulled, well I could have lost Robin for that," Patrick set his clipboard on the edge of the bed.

"I screwed up big time," Spinelli looked at him taking that deep breath Patrick wanted him to take.

"So did I Spinelli," he gazed down at the boy much younger than him, "And I've screwed up a hundred times worse with Robin and she took me back."

Spinelli nodded 'no' in comparison to himself as he watched Patrick sit down in the chair next to him, "Maxie won't take me back."

Patrick giggled, "Yes she will."

"Dr. Love this is not a laughing matter," Spinelli stared at him, "I called my Maxie horrendous things, I hurt her physically. I…"

"Spinelli," Patrick raised his voice to get him to focus, "You can't turn back time on everything that's happened. All you can do is move forward promising that you'll never make the same mistakes you did."

Spinelli leaned forward from the pillows he was resting on and planted his elbows on his legs and his chin in his palms, "I don't even know where to start."

"Well that's why I'm going to help you," Patrick softly smiled.

"Really?" Spinelli glanced at him.

Patrick leaned forward nodding, "Women stick together," he held up his fist, "Guys stick together."

Spinelli awkwardly punch his fist against Patrick's, "The Jackal owes you."

Patrick laughed, "We're even."

Spinelli nodded before taking another deep breath, "I do have a question though."

"Yeah?" Patrick wondered about what.

"It's just that," Spinelli looked up at him, "You are a neurosurgeon and I'm the Jackal. If we brilliant men can't figure out women…"

"Spinelli no man can figure out women."

"Then how are you going to help me?" Spinelli looked at him wondering if he should just attempt this himself.

"Hey I'm Dr. Love. The master at planning perfect dates."

"I planned a perfect date without you."

"Uh right," Patrick took a second to think about this while in the mean time Spinelli glanced up at the window to read Johnny's lips in conversation with Claudia '_I love her!'_

"I've got it Spinelli," he heard Patrick excited and glanced at him waiting to plan out operation Get Maxie Back, "We're talking about Maxie. The woman who trusts you, who believes in you, who loves…"

---

"Taxi!" Lulu waved her hand to the yellow vehicle that was about to drive. She ran over to the car where the window rolled down, "Where to miss?" The dark mysterious Aussie boy asked.

"Anywhere, but here," she uttered where just as her hand touched the back door handle she heard her name.

"Lulu?" Maxie curiously said as she stepped onto the curb of General Hospital.

Lulu softly looked at Maxie and then walked to the opened window in the taxi, "Can you wait a few minutes?"

He nodded, "Yeah." He smiled as the girl walked away to her blonde friend.

"Hey," Maxie warmly smiled at her, "Where are you going? I'll give you a…"

"I'm leaving," Lulu sadly grinned as she stopped in front of her.

"Leaving…" Maxie lingered wondering what exactly she meant, "To change your clothes?" Maxie giggled for she was dressed a little warm.

Lulu giggled back, "No, um." She removed her leather glove, "I need you to do me a favor." She removed the ring off her finger where Maxie became concern, "Lulu what happened."

Lulu gently took Maxie's hand, "What's happening…" She nervously sighed with tears slowly becoming present, "Is that I'm going to get in that taxi and you are going to do me the favor of giving this back to Johnny." She placed the ring in her hand before folding it.

"Lulu," Maxie looked up at her nodding her head no.

Lulu smirked at the expression her frenemy was giving her, "Don't look at me like you're not going to be okay if I'm not there," she giggled while softly putting her hands on Maxie's shoulders, "You are going to be perfectly fine."

"Noo I'm not," Maxie admittedly looked at her as if right now she was being hold together by pins and needles.

"Yes, you will be." Lulu smiled, "You will be because Spinelli knows the truth now."

"He does?" Maxie questioned almost in relief, but she needed to hear it for sure.

"Yes and," she bitterly giggled, "he basically hates my guts," Lulu wiped a tear from her eye where Maxie quickly said, "What did you say to him?"

Lulu looked up at her, "Exactly what he needed to hear." Lulu took her hand off Maxie's shoulder to squint her eyes with her fingers.

Maxie sadly looked at her attempting to touch her hand on her hip when Lulu resisted, "No. This is my fault. I will take responsibility."

"Lulu it was my fault too remember?" She looked into her eyes, "That conversation in the car where you drove like a maniac."

"Lulu?!" Johnny ran out.

Lulu and Maxie looked up at him in shock where Lulu looked away from him ignoring his presence.

"Maxie," she took a deep breath, "I know we said we weren't going to be friends."

"Lulu don't leave," Maxie bit her lip while squeezing her hand.

"….You felt like a friend to me, not best friend, but you were a decent friend."

"I know, that's how I feel," Maxie desperately said with a rushed tone, "Look you can stay at my house, we'll go to work together...Everything will be fine."

Lulu giggled nodding no, "That's a nice offer and I appreciate it, but I'd feel I was imposing."

"Imposing, on who?" She looked at her nuts considering Mac was barely even home nowadays.

"On you and Spinelli, and…baby makes three," Lulu giggled where Maxie softly looked at her, "See that's why I need you to stay because what if…"

"Maxie," Lulu put her hand on Maxie's shoulder leaning closer in to her, "Let him come to you and every thing will be okay." Lulu pulled her into a hug where she whispered, "I hope this finally makes up for everything I've ever done to you."

"Lulu," Maxie abruptly leaned away from her with a few tears in her eyes where before she could say they were passed that, Lulu interrupted with her final goodbye.

"You take care of yourself okay? Good luck at Crimson, I'm sure you'll give the new second assistant hell," she giggled, but Maxie crossed her arms, wiped a tear away and said, "Of course I will, not everyone can bring cold coffee and get away with it as you have."

Lulu smirked, "Bye Maxie." She backed away knowing Maxie wasn't ready for the conversation to end as quickly as it did, "Call me if…" She tried to think of something, "Heck I don't know call me if you and Spinelli tie the knot and you need a bridesmaid or best woman or person, or just a witness." Lulu grinned widely as she stopped at the taxi where she softly smiled at the woman she started off on the wrong foot with, but eventually ended up on the right one.

"Miss?" The taxi driver called her name, "You ready?"

Lulu opened the car door, waved to Maxie and then fell into her seat and slammed the door.

"Easy there," the young man eyed her in his rear view mirror.

She looked away from Maxie and Johnny who slowly stopped in front of her and turned to the driver, "Here's how this is going to work." She motioned to a pocket in her black coat, "You are going to drive me to where ever I want to go."

His eyes saw dollar bills and he nervously glanced up at her, "You in some kind of trouble?"

"I'm going to tell you one thing and then you're not going to ask anymore questions, you hear?"

"Yes Ma'am." He grinned sort of liking the fire this gal had in the back seat.

Lulu looked away from him to catch one last glimpse of the man she loved whom she realized was getting the picture when Maxie handed him the ring.

"Go," Lulu uttered looking away from Johnny to the man that was stalling.

"Are you sure?" The man wandered his eyes to Johnny who looked confused, hurt and was now squeezing his hand into a fist.

"LULU!"

She snapped her head at the driver, "Go!"

"Alright!" He rushed.

"Lulu!" She heard him shout before running to the car, "Lulu don't do this!" He put his hand on the window rolled down in the front passenger seat. The car continued moving picking up in movement where Johnny's voice became irrational, panicky and distraught, "No! Lulu!"

He looked at the driver, "Stop the car! Stop the car!"

"Keep driving!" Lulu crossed her arms where she heard Johnny's voice become more petrified that he might really lose her, "Lulu please! I'm sorry! Let's talk!"

She looked away from him as he uttered at last, "I love you! Lulu! That's all that matters! Please!" And then he yelled her name in such a way that she never heard anyone cry for her as much he did.

"Don't stop," she grumpily told him wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Sounds like that guy really loves you," he looked back at her after a minute of silence. "That's the problem?" He guessed.

"Something like that," she sniffled.

"Here," he tossed her a box of Kleenexes.

"Thanks," she batted her eyes.

"Your welcome," he smiled, "So…" He came to a stop at the traffic light.

"I don't really feel like talking," she honestly, but nicely told him.

"That's okay, do you know where you're going?"

"Canada," it was the first thing on her mind. She could disappear there until she needed to return.

"Okay," he softly smiled her before sticking his hand out, "Rob Sutton." She shook his hand without realizing he wanted her to introduce herself. "And you are?"

"Oh," she became embarrassed, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he smiled, "Tell me the name that belongs to your beautiful face and what brings you about this great need to departure Port Charles."

She intriguingly grinned at him, "The name is Spencer, Lulu Spencer and today I washed away _**what**__** I've**__** done**_**."**

* * *

Author's Note: Okay so the next couple of chapters will be solely on Maxie and Spinelli. Lulu and Johnny will have been written out temporarily. Rob Sutton will be a reoccurring character that definitely has connections in Port Charles. Think back to Luke and Laura days of allies they made along the way in their adventures. Oh and he knows Spinelli. Next chapter: Spinelli has surprise for Maxie as does she. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! :)


	22. Love was made for you and me

Chapter 22

**Love was made for you and me**

Maxie Jones tiresomely turned off the engine of her car parked in the driveway. She kept telling herself it would be just another lonely night. Ever since Spinelli had been readmitted into the hospital, Lulu had tried to keep Maxie's spirits up either by stopping by the house with dinner or a movie or letting Maxie convince her to go shopping. All that was over now. Lulu was on her way to who knows where and Johnny was left heart broken but never the less driven to find out where his blonde one had run off too. So with both her not so close friends gone and with Mac working at the station, she had Kate, Robin, and Sam left to cheer her up.

Kate had made work as stress free and easiest as possible having her out of the office by noon. She then met Robin for a quick lunch where Robin would pester her to take a test and Maxie would retort back wanting information about his condition. When they both realized it was mute point to discuss things neither of them could convince the other to do, they mostly talked about Robin's baby or Mac or the horrible, but more qualified than Lulu new second assistant. After Robin's short twenty-minute break, Maxie would arrive at Sam's who always had something planned for them to do. If it wasn't baby sitting, cleaning her apartment, going for a little jog, or both of them making the time go by with learning how to cook then they were discussing what they believed was their parents secretly dating each other. Their theories left them in giggles that turned into awkward moments of silence where the two would realize too much time had passed and they had other things to do. It was always fun though Maxie told herself when those moments came about or when Sam would by accident bring up Spinelli in a story. Even when all three women, Kate, Robin and Sam were driving her crazy keeping tabs on her and making sure she wasn't alone all the time, Maxie never complained leaving their sight in laughter because it was better than facing her usual thoughts.

But when everyone she knew was busy, she wandered aimlessly all over town. Sometimes she'd go to the mall other times to the boutique and on rare occasions when she was really feeling alone she'd stroll into the Motherhood Store and curiously look around at the clothes she might have to wear at some point. It was the curiosity of a baby on the way that kept herself from collapsing in utter longing for the man of her dreams to hold her in her arms and whisper those five little words "It's going to be okay". In the mean time until she could be reunited with him when she wasn't in the mood to shop, when placing new flowers by Georgie's grave was too depressing, she went to the one place in Port Charles that made her feel all the things she felt when she was with him, Vista Point.

A tear every now and then would slip from her eyes that were ever so focused on the sun setting on the lake. She'd ignore the tear, take a deep breath and wonder when the aching in her heart would simmer down. She bothered herself with questions of when she would be able to look at the black sky and see just that, a dark unruly atmosphere of miniscule illumination rather than the images of them gazing at the stars or dancing under the moonlight. It was in the sounds of the ducks, sounds of the rocks skipping along the surface of the water, sounds of teenagers playfully up to no good and the sounds of fathers introducing wildlife to their young sons and daughters that brought peace to her mind in a park that he said was full of beauty. She wished she could find that beauty now, but as she checked herself out in the rear view mirror of her car, she couldn't find anything, but a dragging feeling of a reluctance to walk into a cold house.

Walking from her car in a black skirt and white blouson blouse that belonged to the NEW YORK & COMPANY fashion label, she stared down the red brick path. A frown on her face as she came to the door, she took a deep sigh as she put the key into the lock and turned to unlock it. For two weeks she had breathed in the air of a void that had once been filled with Spinelli's presence. Maxie Jones didn't seem to understand why at the moment she opened the door why that void was suddenly filled again.

It was hanging on a door in front of her. On the door of the closet they stored coats and umbrellas and shoes in, well not her shoes, but Mac's anyways, the dress she had paraded around in Crimson one day, was hanging on the outside of that white door. The vibrant red velvet fabric captivated her attention as she slowly pulled the key out of the lock and stepped into the house. _It couldn't be_ she told herself, _this is not that dress._ She closed the door while eyes remained fixated and wondered how it was even possible for that art to be present in her house. _It simply isn't possible._ She set her keys and purse on the nearby ledge and cautiously walked towards the dress she had the privilege of wearing once, but always hoped to wear longer than five minutes. Her hand grasped the coat hanger lifting it off the hook where her other hand felt under the clear protective covering. _It is, but how…_ A small card fell to the ground. _Look inside. _She opened the door where she scanned from left to right and saw nothing special until she looked down at the shoes. Shoes that she had thrown her favorite, but destroyed paired of heals from the sewers in there. Those heels were not so destroyed anymore. They were quite the opposite. New. She disbelievingly shook her head before seeing another card. _Kitchen._ Her mind followed the cards and her heart couldn't process anything more than where they led her. She walked into the kitchen ignoring the living room illuminated with one candle and turned the lights on to reveal a vase full of yellow, magenta, orange and white sunflowers. The same sunflowers she had given him. The card read _Living Room._ She walked towards the coffee table, her dress thrown over her arm still and was puzzled by the thick round white candle. _What did the candle stand for? _Lifting the card from the table she saw that it wasn't the candle, but the golden hoop the candle was sitting in. _I've been looking for that. _She looked down at the card. _Now come into the back yard._ She could have sworn the doors to the back yard were closed when she was in the kitchen because now one was open. She couldn't see what lied outside from where she stood so she walked around the couch taking the long route versus walking passed the TV and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the figure before her.

His back was turned to her as he stood on the patio next to a small black rod iron table set for dinner for two. The white plates were empty, but between them was an elegant bowl filled with barbecue chips and a silver metal bucket to the side of the bowl filled with ice and two bottles of orange soda. Behind the table on the ground was a brown bag with the logo _Kelly's _on it and next to it was a small boom box that had a few CDs stacked near it one of which was from the man they saw in concert, Eli Love. As a whole it was amazing, but the word 'amazing' couldn't even explain the depths of her feelings at this moment. The little details of their relationship presented in symbolic objects panned in comparison to the real thing in front of her, him.

"Spin-Spinelli?" She barely made out in the two short, but deep breaths she took as she looked at the back of him wondering if it really was him.

Goosebumps ran down his back as he told himself over and over again that he only had one chance to get this right. He turned to her with his hands in his black pocket dress pants, his red tie perfectly tucked on top of a white dress shirt and his charcoal black dress jacket buttoned at the bottom.

"Maxi-mista," a smile slowly formed in the corner of his mouth while his entire face lit up.

The small bandage on the side of his forehead concerned her, but the warmth in his smile, the welcoming of her presence in his eyes, fled every worry from her mind except his hair, his hairdo from the Haunted Star. There was a loss for words on her part as her eyes clouded with tears in utter happiness. Spinelli on the other hand didn't know how to interpret her silence or her tears, he didn't know they were connected to the nervous smile on her face.

"Um," he pointed to the dress, "That was the first awkward moment between us at least for the Jackal because he thought you were the most beautiful woman to ever walk this earth and." He paused flashing back to the his hands got into, "and I wanted to tell you that and one thing lead to another," he rolled his eyes, "And the Jackal inappropriately touches your br-bre…"

"My breast?" She blurted out for him.

He chuckled feeling like an idiot, but nodded, "Yes, but you were so happy…" He paused realizing how that sounded, "Not happy because the Jackal touched your breast, but happy because…"

"Spinelli," she giggled at the mess his words were getting him into.

"Ehh I'm rambling like an idiot. No wonder Sonny can't stand me half the time," he took a deep breath feeling like he was already messing this up. "Um," he looked at her nervously scared before speaking in hollow serious tone, "I know a dress doesn't fix everything."

"Spinelli," she hung the dress over the bed while staring at him with an annoyance to bring up painful memories.

He quickly clasped his hands together in a panic, "Look…" He separated his hands ready to lay it all out there, "I'm sorry for everything."

"Spinelli," she nodded no, but he interrupted her with a plea, "I mean I don't know what the hell is wrong with me to treat you the way I did. The Jackal will never forgive himself for the things he said and for the way he physically hurt you."

He stepped forward, "I want you to know that is not acceptable in the Jackal's book of morals and I swear if I ever land a hand on you again I'll leave you alone forever, you'll never see me."

He set his hands on his hips looking away from her in shame, "The truth is Maxie…You were right."

"I was?" She looked at him confused because she was sure that maybe she was wrong.

He slowly nodded, "Yes Maximista was right." He paused not really sure how to say this, but he glanced up at her hoping his words would sway her into his arms. "I can't promise you that I'm never going to get hurt or injured or that I'm never going to die because death is inevitable, its fait."

He stopped at the doorway, "But what I can promise is that I will do everything in my power so that violence will never hit us like it did on Pier 52. If that means that the jackal can't spend his remaining days working for Jason Morgan than that's a small price to pay."

"Spinelli," she tilted her head off to the side like that was not what she wanted.

"No, please let me finish and then you can tell me what your thinking," he looked in her eyes for a continued chance, but what he didn't realize was that he was getting his second chance from the instant she saw him.

"You are the most important person in my life, which means you come first and I should have done a better job of doing that. I'm sorry for being the insensitive jerk I was, I never meant to be." He somberly slid his hands in his pockets and turned his back to her where he walk back to his original position. His speech was almost over, but with every little segment coming to its conclusion he began to feel like it would never be enough.

"I understand," he turned to her with a hasty smile, "Maxie I'll understand if you never want to talk to me again. I wouldn't talk to the Jackal, maybe I never will."

She didn't understand what he meant by that, but whatever it meant she didn't want to see her Spinelli lose the Jackal in him. She watched as he silently glanced away from her not knowing what else to say. She heard a deep breath with a long sigh, "If I can have…" She saw his refusal to look at her. His fingers touched his eyes, "I'm sorry Maximista," he spoke confidently as he wiped away what she knew was a tear, "It appears the Jackal has something in his eye." When he finally did look at her all she could see was a man beating himself up for mistakes that would surely change the man she loved if she never forgave him. "If I can have just another chance to make things right…I'll try to make sure you never regret it."

She pursed her lips as her heart melted at the vulnerable man in front of her. There was no doubt in her mind that he was genuinely sorry for everything even if she did believe that it wasn't his entirely fault. He took unnecessary responsibility and she just wanted to hug him.

"So…So what are you thinking?" He scarcely asked her for she had just stood there with this look on her face that made his heart skip beats for miles. "I…" His voice cracked, he couldn't believe that glow in her eyes was for him, he wanted to runaway before his fears were met and she wasn't about to take him back, "You know I'm just going to leave." He began to turn away from her until her saw movement in her form. She wasn't walking away, no, she was headed right for him in a slow walk the gradually became a leap into his arms.

She felt his strong arms lift her up in the air. He felt her kisses along his neck.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

"Shh…" She pulled away from his neck to look him in the eyes, "It's forgotten."

"Really?" His lip trembled. She couldn't possibly be using his phrase that he had used to disregard everything she did and use it to disregard what he had done.

She moved her hands to his soft shaven cheeks looking into his doubtful eyes, "Yes."

His searched her eyes unable to say 'thank you' as she would have sweetly said. He, in truth didn't know what to say because it was sounding to him like he was getting his second chance and when Damian Spinelli came here tonight, he had no expectations of getting what he wanted.

"Spinelli," she tenderly rubbed her right thumb over his cheek, "Just say thank you."

He gently set her down on the ground, "It's not that simple."

"No it's not," she honestly told him as her left hand that rested on his neck moved to his red tie, "But love never is." She tugged on his tie pulling him forward, "Now do me a favor."

"What?" He asked as his lips stopped just inches of hers.

"Kiss me," she formed a small smile hoping he wouldn't hold back.

He met her smile, brushed his lips against hers and then as he ever so gently opened his mouth, he whispered, "Done". He leaned in to kiss her moist lips where as soon as she passed on the juicy sensation of oranges from her tongue to his, he deepened the kiss by wrapping his arms around her. His tight grip had her body pushed against his sending more than just waves of joy down her spine; it sent waves of excitement to wrap her arms around his neck.

The kiss ended with her forehead leaned on his, "I missed you," she closed her eyes while her hands held his jacket, "So much." Her lips trembled as the reunion between them was beginning to set in. He was no longer a figment of her imagination or a dream. He was real. He was standing in front of her, holding her and now delicately kissing her cheek.

"I'm here," he softly spoke, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Good," she uttered with a slight chuckle, "Because I need you." She leaned away from resting her cheek on his and glanced up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Aw don't cry Maximista, please don't cry," he gritted his teeth as he motioned to wipe away all her tears, "I don't think I can handle being the cause of anymore of your sorrow."

"No," she faintly interjected putting her hands on his that cupped her cheeks, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying because I'm happy."

The smile on her face made him hurt a little less and the smile she gave him after he took her hands in his and kissed them, further chipped away the hurt in his heart. He saw tears emerge from her sparkling blue eyes and he began to understand what she meant, "You're really that happy?"

"Yes," she nodded as their interlaced hands slowly dangled in front.

"Really?" He asked in a disbelief tone, letting go of her hand and slowly backing away from her, "Because…" He negatively nodded his head almost frightened at perhaps the impact he had on her, "You-you look like you're not okay and…"

She could hear the apprehensiveness in his tone, "Spinelli?" She walked towards him where he looked at her in fear, fear that only made her want to reach out to him more. "Heeeeeyyyy," she warmly stopped in front of him where he looked away from her.

"It's just that, I...the jackal…I." He stopped in defeat as her right hand cupped his left cheek and turned his attention to her, "I'm fine." She looked away from his eyes to the white clean gauze over a small patch of the left side of his forehead. "It's you that I'm worried about." She pushed away a strain of brown hair hanging over it, "I see that bandage of yours and become reminded of how close I came to losing you."

"Or," she looking passed the bandage to her hand that moved back to stroking his left cheek, a cheek that she remembered so many weeks ago was bruised and battered by her harsh slap.

"It didn't hurt that much," he smirked at her knowing she must have been thinking about it.

"It didn't?" She bit her lip before swallowing the tears in her throat to clear it. She saw his humored smirked, "Yes it did."

"A little," he wanted to say something humorous afterwards in effect that it had woken him up more than it hurt him physically, but she interrupted him.

"And your shoulder," she glanced down at it wanting to touch, but was afraid to do so.

"Which is fully recovered," he slowly said to her astonishment.

"I don't believe that," she giggled.

"I guess I'll just have to prove it to you then," he smoothly removed her hand from his cheek where she refused to let go, "You don't have to prove anything to me."

"Maybe I want to prove something to myself," he kissed her hand before letting it go to walk to the stereo. She couldn't see the CD he was putting in, but as soon as he pushed play, turned the volume up and rose from his knees to walk towards her, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"L," he lip-synced, "Is for the way 'you'," he pointed at her, "look at me" he pointed to himself. "O," he formed on cue in his fingers, "is for the only one I see," he motioned his fingers from his eyes to her stature. She giggled at how ridiculous this was, but he knew she loved every second of it. "V is very, very," he motioned his fingers to his lips as if he was a chef that was going to proclaim magnificent, "Extraordinary." He stopped in front of her, "E," he put his hand out, "Is even more than anyone that you adore."

She put her hand in his, he wildly grinned and they both put their other unused hands in their proper places for a dance.

_**Can Love is all that I can give to you**_

"Love is all that I can give to you Maximista," he sung right after the said lyrics.

_**Love is more than just a game for two**_

He matched the beat of the song to their movement along the patio.

_**Two in love can make it**_

"We can make it Maximista," he winked with confidence until he saw a red shiny shape around her neck.

_**Take my heart and please don't break it**_

He disturbed their synched movements to a slow hip-to-hip motion, "You're still wearing it?"

"I never took it off."

After all this time, after everything, her heart remained with his and he realized more perfectly than ever that, "_**Love was made for me and you**_."

The trumpets rang through, Nat King Cole's voice faded away and instruments spoke as loud as their love that transpired into more than one surprising twists from his once wounded arm, but three twists the sent her stumbling right into his arms, laughter ringing out.

They couldn't hear the lyrics that started up again or the trumpets that quieted down. All that they could hear was the pitter-patter of their breaths turning stiff at the awkward placement of their hands around each other. There was a look in their eyes, a look that began months ago as a curiosity to who each other was, but ever since that night they became one was a look of lust.

"Did you twist your ankle blonde one?" He nervously giggled until he saw her amused grin freeze, "Spin," she pointed at the nightly sky, "look…"

He followed her eyes to the dark unruly atmosphere and was surprised by what he saw, "A shooting star." He had to admit, he was quite surprised at the turn of events, what were the chances?

"Make a wish Spin," she smiled at his disbelieved face that slowly glanced down at hers when she said that.

"It already came true."

"So did mine."

There it was again, that look of lust. The force that kept their eyes locked on each other was so powerful that even the ending of the song couldn't break their contact. There was only one thing he wanted to do to her now. He knew he had no right to ask her the password to her heart, body and soul, but he hoped to the Greek gods he had granted himself permission.

"Did I…Did the Jackal ever tell you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"No," she faintly whispered, although if he had she couldn't remember, he made it irresistible to think back to twenty minutes ago.

"Shame on him," he slowly leaned forward nodding his head negatively, "Shame on him." He stopped just short of her lips, "Because you look amazing Ms. Maximista Jones."

She burst a smile of excitement across her face before cupping his cheek and pulling him into a kiss that led to another and another. Before she knew it, she wanted him. In fact if she was being honest with herself, if she could recall those twenty minutes, she wanted him fifteen minutes ago.

Her lips were like suction cups where every time he tried to breathe for air, for a chance to ask where she wanted to go from here, he was sucked back in making his lungs growl.

"Maxie!" He drew breath.

"What?" She asked out of oxygen.

He wanted to re-energize his lungs, but couldn't wait for them soon enough, "I know that I don't deserve you tonight, but…"

"I want to."

"Are you sure?" He asked without showing too much excitement.

She pulled on his charcoal jacket hoping the hostility would catch his attention, "You owe me."

It did catch his attention, but he didn't want this to be a mistake. "You're sure about this?"

"Spinelli," she looked at him straight, "If you don't get me out of these clothes in about five minutes, I will…You don't want to know."

"Yes ma'am!" He swept her off her feet.

"Spinelli, I don't want you to hurt yourself," she quickly looked at him.

"Maxie, I'm one hundred percent healed," he held her closer, "In fact, I don't even need the bandage on."

"Spinelli let's not be stupid now," she patted his shoulder, "I don't want your brain bleeding all over me."

"It was Patrick's idea to keep it on," he smirked at her.

Maxie pouted, "Of course it was!" She angrily forgot that Patrick was the master at playing on girls feelings, "So you don't need it?"

"No," he said but wished he had advised her to pull it of slower.

"Ow," he whined.

"Don't ow me! Get me upstairs!"

"Well you could have gently ripped it off Maximista!" He yelled just before he walked through the doorway gently hitting his head on the door.

"Oh," she giggled in amusement where he non-amusingly glanced at her.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'll kiss it when we get upstairs."

"You will kiss it now," he seriously, but playfully looked at her.

"Spinelli you are so killing the mood right now!" She exclaimed.

"And my head hurts!" He complained.

"Oh fine!" She pulled his forehead, "Such a cry baby!" She planted a big wet smooch where his white bandage once was. "Is that better?"

"Now where were we?" He evilly smirked at her.

"You are gonna pay for that," she playfully hit his shoulder where he fired back with a playful, "Oh I will, will I?" He giggled as he walked to the stairs where she retorted back, "Yes big time!"

"We'll see about that," he marched up the stairs where their laughs became swallowed in their kisses.

* * *

Next Chapter: Continuation of this, Maxie gets a feeling, Spixie grow closer and Spinelli puts things together and presents his theory to his Maximista and a little classic J&R (some of their famous quotes incorporated). Enjoy and review! Thanks!


	23. You and meforever

Author's Note: Hey! So this is the chapter we've been waiting for. If you've really enjoyed the story, now is the time to tell me through a review because the story has seemed to lack much feedback. This only communicates to me that no one is interested in the story anymore, so after this chapter and the next chapter, depending on the reaction I get, will decide whether I continue writing it. I have so much more planned for the story, A LOT. So please review and as always enjoy! This is a juicy chapter in more ways than one.

Chapter 23

You and Me…Forever

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"Can you handle my buttons this time?" She asked with a smirk on her face as they hit the bed. "Spinelli?" She called, waiting for a response when she began to roll her eyes at his lips sucking the skin on her neck, "Oh Spin."

"It depends," he squeezed out breath as he moved his lips to the edge of hers, "Are there fifty?"

She chuckled, "Seven."

"Let me see," he leaned away where his mind was so frazzled it looked like twenty, "Looks complicated."

"Ug!" She rolled her eyes, "We're going to have to practice." She giggled lying down on the bed while her fingers unbuttoned the jacket.

"Or," he tilted his head to the side, "The Jackal suggests you where less complicated attire?"

"No!" She playfully argued back while opening up his jacket, "I look great in this!"

"That you do," he moved her hands that were scaling up his chest and threw them on his shoulders as he leaned into kiss her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist and let the passion of their tongues run its course.

There was a tingling sensation of warmth exploding within her. It was in her fingertips pulling on his hair, her pink cheeks of a rising temperature in heat, and in the perspiration developing underneath her blouse as his chest lied against it. Pleasure. "Don't stop, don't stop, don't stop". An orgasmic feeling that was not even close to sex, but had her hormones wanting to drag the animal out of him to sexual intercourse.

"Spinelli," she whispered into his ear, "What are you waiting for?"

He looked up from her neck that he was nibbling, "Are you sure?" He softly looked at her, "Because we don't have to…"

She sweetly smiled at him while running her hand up his arm to his cheek, "Yes I'm sure." She pulled him into a kiss where she whispered out of breath, "I want to."

She made it impossible for him to verbally agree to her wishes, so he wrapped his arm around her waist while his other hand explored her skirt. Slowly leaning her up from the bed, his hand graced over her lacy black underwear. He figured when she bit his lip that it was because she couldn't he was putting moves on her she'd never seen from their first night of passion.

"Spinelli," she nervously said with hesitance moving away from his lips where he moved his to her neck. Her cheek leaning against his, she tried to busy herself with his jacket while using the TV as a focus to not let this feeling creeping within her, ruin the touch that she longed from him.

She pulled his arm out of the jacket where he pulled her into an unexpected kiss while quickly removing the jacket from his other arm and slamming the annoying jacket to the ground. He cupped her cheeks trying to move beyond the smooch she was giving him, but every attempt he made to slither his tongue into hers, was rejected.

"Spinelli," she pulled away trying to look at him so he could see that worrisome look on her face that they should slow down, but he never made eye contract with her.

He caressed her neck, shoulder and chest while pressing his hand gently against her back, "Maxie," he moaned, "Maximista I have missed you."

There was a moment of doubt pertaining to her feelings of nausea versus her desires for him. She ruled against nausea and moved her fingers to his white dress shirt that after every button she undid revealed more of his much developed muscles. Sliding her hand underneath the collar of the shirt, she motioned down to kiss his shoulder when just the movement made her unsettled. She froze not knowing what to do. _It'll pass, it'll pass, it'll pass! _She coached herself through this round of incoming morning sickness. If she could just sit still like this for a few more minutes, have the chance to see his abs underneath his white tank top then she was sure it would pass. It had to. But it wouldn't.

He moved his hand to her back and lunged forward in motion to lying her back down, even her slightly raised voice "Spinelli" didn't stop him and when she said stop, twice, he tried harder.

"SPINELLI!" She shouted as was almost lying down on the bed.

He felt her tug pushing him away from her and immediately drew back with concern at her, "What's wrong?

Her hands were firmly planted on either shoulder preventing him from leaning closer to her, his touch was no longer appealing, "Did you not hear me when I said stop!"

He confusingly, but agitatedly looked at her, "You just told me not to stop, you told me downstairs to get you up here, to get this going so this is what I'm doing." He thought this was what she wanted; she was practically begging him for it.

"Well what difference does it make what I said ten minutes ago I…" She paused looking away from him where she closed her eyes and covered her mouth.

"Maxie?" He sat kneed on the bed watching her grow pale. Something was wrong and it greatly alarmed him, "Maximista?" He motioned to help her or to console her or to do anything, but she pushed him further away, yelling at him, "I said stop alright!"

"Maxie," he softly called her name as she rushed out the doorway to who knows where. He sighed while gently slamming his hand on his lap, "Great, real smooth maverick." He slightly chuckled at his words, he felt like a maverick, a guy with bad luck who messes up everything and here he though he had done well for himself. _But no,_ he told himself, _you had to be a prick_ he criticized himself for wanting to have what Patrick called was Make Up Sex. _Selfish pig._ He ran his hands through his hair trying to figure out what exactly he did wrong and what to do from here. He found it a mute point to figure out what he had done wrong because everything was already his fault so the answer to the second question was to leave. That solution however changed when he heard a sickening commotion. He jerked his head to the doorway where he heard it again. Not sure what he was hearing he rose up from the bed and stopped at the doorway where his hypothesis was confirmed correct.

"Maxie?" He softly questioned pushing the door open where she horrifyingly looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Max…" He breathlessly stepped forward.

"No," she put her hand out, but it didn't stop him from getting closer where she began to panic, "Just go."

He grabbed onto her hand that was pushing him away as he tried to bend down to her, "Maxie let me help you."

"No!" She pushed him away with both hands, "Just LEAVE!" She cried where she suddenly quieted down and looked off from him.

"You going to be sick again?" He asked trying to take control of the situation and the second she started gagging he went into nurse mode.

"Alright, alright!" He quickly prepared himself as well as her and tried to pull back her short blonde hair strains. He didn't understand why she was holding back. She was choking on her own vomit because of his presence and he didn't understand it one bit. "You're okay, let it out," he gently touched her back as he took a permanent seat next to her.

The longer she resisted, the longer it hurt so she did as he said and let it all out. To say it was unpleasant was the least. It was absolutely terrifying to her to have him this close where he could see her at her worst. In the worst of it all though, there was a part of her that really enjoyed his presence because he took care of her. When she was afraid he quietly whispered into her ear "It's okay" and when she was really struggling he put his hands over hers on the pavement and endured every squeeze she gave. When she calmed down for a minute he kissed her shoulder, neck or cheek and gently pulled her blonde straight hair back telling her she had done well. The only other man to comfort her the way he had was Mac and he was her father or the closest thing to it, but he was supposed to be helpful, but not Spinelli, Spinelli didn't have to and he was.

"Thank-you," she difficultly swallowed before looking over her shoulder at him.

He softly smiled at her seeing the ashamed look on her face, "Maximista everyone gets sick."

"I know," she turned away from starting to cry, "But…I ruined tonight."

"What?" He questioned moving his hand down her back in a soothingly circular motion.

She turned to him, "I did."

He softly chuckled, "Oh Maximista," he kissed her cheek before getting up to grab a washcloth.

She watched as he ran the washcloth under the faucet, "Spinelli you were absolutely amazing tonight and I really wanted to be with you."

He smiled in the mirror at her, "As did I," he turned around to her leaning his back against the counter. "But to be honest, all I really wanted," he moved from the counter to his seat on the tile floor which was next to the bathtub. "Is to be close to you," he leaned his back against the tub where she turned closer to him. He began stroking her blonde hair, "I just wanted another chance to be with you and after all the hell I put you through, come on." He looked at her taken back with a smile, "A man that loves a woman should be by her side at all times." He raised his hand with the washcloth and gently began cleaning her face. Intently focusing on the task he spoke softy, "The Jackal is here now. Ready to assist you in any troubles you and him are faced with." He lowered the washcloth from her face and sweetly smiled at her, "All better."

She was completely mystified. Every time she was beginning to fall apart he picked up the pieces and magically put them back together. She pursed her lip before looking down at her hands, she didn't know what to say because this was her Spinelli: sweet and kind. She always knew that, but in the weeks he had been gone, she sort of lost the confidence that he'd ever return to her like that.

"Come here," she heard his strong confident voice yearning to be near her, but she didn't react until his hands touched hers.

"There's so much," she uttered closing her eyes, "So much I thought," she opened her eyes at the ceiling where her hand wiped a tear from them, "I was never…" She looked at down at her wet fingers before looking up at him, "Going to be able to tell you."

He slowly nodded negatively, "You don't have to worry anymore." He motioned forward where she wrapped her arms around him and cried her heart out on his chest.

"Shh," he stroked the back of her blonde head, "It's going to be okay," he told her the five words that she longed for him to say. He felt her tight squeeze as if he had to be right as if things had to be okay because right now she didn't believe they could be.

"Maxie," he chuckled in disbelief not understanding why she was so upset. He glanced down at her to see her forehead was still pushed against his shoulder, "Heeeey…" He cupped her cheek, gently forcing her to rest it on his chest.

She coughed as her sobs entered her throat, "You don't understand," she glanced up at him with teary eyes.

He sweetly wiped away her tears, "Well make the Jackal understand because he's getting the feeling that this is more than just you missing him."

She pursed her lip while her eyes gave him the incentive that he was right, "You can tell me." He squeezed her, "I won't be mad I promise," he held up his three fingers, "Boy scouts honor."

She humorously giggled grabbing his hand, "That's girls scouts stupid."

"Ha! I made Maximista laugh…" He teased her where she playfully slammed his hand on his chest, not amused by his trick.

Spinelli smiled brightly before seriously looking at her, "Please tell me what's going on."

She looked up at him where he could see she was nervous, "Maxie it can't be that bad," he harmlessly said, but saw the resentment in her eyes.

He slowly nodded in possible agreement, "Okay," he looked away from her where he thought back to her sickness, "Does it have something to do with you being sick just earlier?" He looked up at her where she was biting her lip. The Jackal PI was on the right track. "Did you go to the doctors while I was in disposal? Did they tell you something…" He paused looking away from her, "Are you…" He sighed with great sadness, "Are you dying Maximista?"

"No," she quickly nodded, but he didn't believe her, "If you are, I'll take care of you."

"No Spinelli," she nodded slightly chuckling.

"This is not a laughing matter," _heavens no_, he thought, here he believed he had forever and now he might not, "I'll fly in the best doctors we'll find a treatment…"

She rolled her eyes as he rambled on, "Spinelli that's not necessary."

"Maximista," he nodded like he could handle it, "The Jackal is surprised, but none the less will support you through this."

"Spinelli!" She shouted where he drew focus on her, "I'm not dying."

"Oh," he looked away from her where she could see her was over analytically thinking about something. "Well," he looked up at her where she interrupted, "And before you ask it's not my heart."

She could see the transition from panic to scared to confused to now overwhelmed such positive news, "I'm perfectly healthy Spinelli."

"You are?" He concernedly looked at her having a hard time believing that.

"Yes," she amusingly huffed at him.

"Are you sure?" He asked once more, "Because it would be just the jackals luck that he finds the woman of his dreams and the Greek god of death Thanatos takes her away," he slowly looked away from her, "And if that happened the Jackal would be…" She could see his mind wandering into a dark and gloomy perhaps dangerous existence as he uttered things such as 'the jackal would be no more' or 'the bad jackal would reign his cyber fury on all those who unworthy'.

"Spinelli," she cupped both his cheeks bringing his attention to, "Calm down. I'm not dying and the Greek god tanto…"

"Thanatos."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes before sweetly looking at him, "He's not going to take me away from you."

She saw the look of insecurity in his eyes and immediately ran her hand through his hair knowing it gave him instant relief, "Spinelli…"

"Well," he whined taking her hands gently away from his face, "You think it's funny, but the Jackal did a little worrying of himself while he was recovering and he knows from many sources that you have not been so fair lately."

"Who…who told you?"

"Doesn't matter," he looked at her, "the point is Maximista, the Jackal knows this isn't the first time you've been ill which means in the mind of the Jackal PI you either never recovered from your days of dizziness and nausea which let him remind you was diagnosed by the ever so clever Doctor Jones as dehydration," he playfully, but seriously looked down to her.

"Or…" He lingered hoping she would fill in the blank.

"Or that I," she looked everywhere around the room but at him, "might be…"

"Pregnant?" He guessed where the look on her face that wasn't directed at him showed evident signs of butterflies.

"Maxie," he softly uttered her name, "Talk to me."

She nervously rolled her eyes up at him before speaking in a slow somberly begging tone, "I wanted to tell you."

He relaxed his shoulders before softly smiled at her, "Why didn't you?"

She bit her lip as tears welled up in her scared blue eyes, "I didn't know how to tell you," she shrugged her shoulders trying to show an apologetic face for what she was afraid he'd see as betrayal.

He confusingly looked at her, "Because I'm not the father?"

"Of course you're the father!" She hit his chest before trying to push him away.

"Maxie," he raised his voice as held onto her tighter.

"Let go of me!" She refused to be in his grip any longer.

"Maxie! Listen!" He yelled where she settled down, but not looking at him.

He spoke from behind her, "I only asked…! Because I want to know if I pushed you into the arms of another man." He moved his lips away from her left ear where he looked at the ground, "I want to know if I pushed you away like Lucky did to Elizabeth and if you found the type of comfort she found with Jason."

She felt his arms loosen around her, "I won't be mad. I'll understand." He removed his arms completely away from her and turned away, "I was a horrible man, not even a man."

"Spinelli," she wiped a tear from her eyes before looking over her shoulder to see his head down.

"If it was Matt, I think I can live with it. If it was Johnny, he was hurting from Lulu so I guess it's understandable you two would turn to each other." He frowned where he folded his hands over his face. "If it was some guy I don't even know…well maybe that's a good thing."

"Spinelli…" She turned to touch his shoulder, "I've only been with you."

He turned to her with doubt clearly written on his face, "It's okay Maxie if you have, you don't have to lie to me."

"First," she rubbed his shoulder, "It would not be okay if I had done that and second," she cupped his cheek. "I'm not lying to you." She softly rubbed his cheek while her hand on his back slid to his hand, "If I'm pregnant…" She softly smiled at him, "You are this baby's father." She moved his hand to her waist where the nervous curious smile on his face brought an odd feeling of comfort to herself.

"But," he cleared his throat moving his hand away from her waist, "You haven't taken a test yet?"

She nodded 'no', "I was supposed to see Kelly for a regular check up the day that Lulu took off, but Kelly had an unexpected delivery and so I need to reschedule."

He nodded, "Okay well," he slowly got up from the ground where he brushed his hands against his pants and then his hips, "This is what we're going to do."

There was an assertiveness in him that she had never quite seen before except that Friday afternoon when he first thought she was pregnant, but with his leadership came that same look of panic in his eyes.

"Spinelli?" She was slightly concerned by his silence and his frozen expression that she knew was a sign of him deep in thought. She quickly got up from the floor where he looked at her with a smile, "I'm fine. The Jackal is absolutely perfect, he is not freaking out."

She chuckled hardly capable of believing his words, "Spinelli," she touched his shoulder, "Breathe."

He slowly nodded, "Trying" he motioned with his hand.

"Yeah, right," she sarcastically noted with a little anger.

"Maxie I'm trying," he looked at her to cut him some slack as he processes everything.

"Well do you think you can try a little harder?" She looked at him like his behavior wasn't calming her down, "Because this is not comforting me."

"The Jack…I'm sorry," he regretfully wished he had reacted better. He gently brushed his hand up her arm, "Look everything is going to be okay. Why don't you take a shower," he pointed to the bathtub before pointing to himself, "I'll clean downstairs up and then," he gently took her hands in his, "We'll sit down and figure this out together."

It was just like that night that night she came to him after Anthony Zacchara threatened to kill her. She came to him and he sat her down and said the same words to her as he did right now. Knowing how well he handled protecting her from Anthony as well as the Logan mess, helped her know that he would keep truth to his word.

She slowly nodded where he let go of her hands and ran his hands through her hair, "Will you be okay up here?"

"Yeah, I can handle a shower," she giggled pointing her thumb at the tub.

"Okay," he smiled hopeful.

She sweetly smiled back at him when as he left her side she wondered how she could have been so mean to him just a few minutes ago, "Spinelli…"

His hand gripped the doorknob and he turned to her, "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," she frowned feeling like a jerk, "You were just trying to help."

"It's fine," he formed a careless smile.

"No," she nodded like it wasn't, "I'm acting like I'm the only person effected by this and I know this affects you too." She knew she needed to be there for him as much as he was trying to be there for her.

"Maxie, I wasn't freaking out back there because I don't want to be a father, I just never thought the opportunity would present itself." He smiled where he began to close to the door, "It's like this," he stopped as he stood in the doorway with half the door closed, "If you're pregnant I'll be overjoyed with excitement at a new adventure that you have once again brought into my life." He then shrugged his shoulders, "And if you're not pregnant," he relaxed his shoulders, "Then I hope someday in the future I get this chance again…" He gave her an honest smile and then turned away from her to close the door completely when he popped his head back in, "Oh and preferably with someone I love," he winked at her, "I'll check up on you in a little bit."

She watched the door gently close and then turned away from it with a nervous jittery smile. The trust he had in her, the willingness on his part, the devotion to her was something she never thought in all her years of dating she would find again after Jesse and Cooper. As she turned the shower on she found herself more conflicted than she ever had been during this entire ordeal. While there was a part of her that was still very resistant to the idea, there was another part of her that for the first time was embracing it because of him.

---

Spinelli walked onto the patio with his hands in his pocket and stopped at the black iron table with a wide grin on his face. He didn't want to get himself overly excited, but he felt like things might really be changing for him. The family he had dreamed of as a child was no longer an idea. In a few hours it could be a reality and he'd never have to worry about finding that future like he often did years ago. He glanced down at the bowl of barbeque chips and bucket of orange soda and wanted to toast to a fantastic night, a night that couldn't have turned out better and it wasn't even finished yet.

"Oh what the heck," he leaned over to ice bucket and grabbed himself a glass bottle of nectar of the gods.

Twisting off the cap he motioned the bottle to his lips and then paused, this was a defining moment he believed in his life, a moment he needed to thank someone for. Glancing up at the starry sky he smiled, "The jackal would like to thank the Greek goddess Aphrodite for her powers of love, beauty, and sexual passion which in the jackal's case he believes has led to the fertility of his Maximista." He tipped off to the sky and then took a sip from his bottle where afterward he looked at the bowl and ate a chip.

---

Maxie, dressed in a red rob, walked out of the bathroom drying her hair off with a towel. She had to admit that the shower cleared her mind. Maybe it was because she no longer smelled of vomit, but she liked to think that it was because of the cool water that ran down her hot head of thoughts.

"Spinelli?" She questioned as she entered her room with caution, but realized he must still be down stairs. She walked to her dresser where she pulled open the drawer to her hair dryer and then set her towel down. She glanced up at the mirror, sighed with usual discontent and then reached for her combs where with her hair dryer she styled her hair to her usual short blonde straightness. Half an hour later that gloomy sigh she gave at the mirror was replaced with a huge smile as her hair began to have a gorgeous shine. Maxie turned the hair dryer off while giggling to herself at the way one small detail could immediately change her mood. She brushed her smooth silky hair and then set the brush down and looked at herself again. _All better, _she said to herself where she instantly thought of him. Those were his two words. He said them to her when he was shot and then just an hour or so ago in the bathroom. Her sudden thought of him made her wonder what he was up to. Surely he'd be done now cleaning the most wonderfully decorated scenery. Walking from her room and down the hall she heard the most unnerving echo throughout the house, "Heellloo" Mac shout out. She was just about to reveal herself from the top of the stairs when she saw Spinelli walking from the patio and her father welcoming him.

"Spinelli!" He walked towards him, "You're back."

"Yeah," Spinelli nodded standing in the living room now, "Hospital released me this morning."

"Well," Mac stopped in front of him with a huge smile on his face, "It's good to have you home son."

Spinelli curiously looked at him as Mac offered a handshake _son? Really?_ "Good…to be home," he shook his hand.

"I want you to know my daughter missed you an awfully lot," Mac honestly looked at him, "So much so that I'm really starting to think she loves you."

Spinelli nervously smiled unsure of what to really say in return the man's kind words, "Thanks I think?"

Mac nodded while chuckling, "I still don't like what you do for a living, but I'm glad that you're out of the hospital and here to distract my daughter from snooping around my personal life."

"Is she hot on the trail?"

"Getting closer by the day," Mac annoyingly, but humorously said as he let go of his hand and set it on his hip, "Where is my beautiful daughter? Hopefully not sitting in bed with her robe on…" Mac looked at his sketchy attire.

Spinelli coughed, "No sir."

"Well," he amusingly huffed, "Tell her I said hi. I came home because she wasn't answering her phone I got a little worried."

"You have nothing to worry about sir, she's in good hands."

Mac studied his expression where Spinelli immediately finished with, "No pun intended or anything."

"Hmmm," Mac glared at him before relaxing, "Well I'm going to move on with my night." He walked away from Spinelli to the closet where he changed jackets, "You two have a good night."

"Same to you Mac," Spinelli said without thinking.

"Did you just call me Mac?" He closed the closet door slightly distraught.

"Uh yes I did sir, does that bother you?"

"Oh no," Mac nodded even though it felt a little weird, "I'll see you later."

Spinelli watched as he nervously left the house and then leaned on the back of the couch with the dress hanging over it. He took the dress in his hand and softly admired it, remembering the intense discussion he had with Kate in his attempt to obtain it.

"How did you find it?" He heard her voice as she came down the stairs.

"Ms. Howard," he looked up at her with a smile.

"Kate?" She surprisingly asked as she stopped at the foot of the stairs.

"Yup, the Jackal had to pay a stiff price on this," he optimistically looked at the dress as the shiny red dress to her cute figure covered in the silky red fabric.

He saw her look of 'no you shouldn't have', but he widely grinned at her, "Free tech support…for a year."

"Good," she stopped in front of him, "I'd hate for you to spend all this cash that you now suddenly have on me."

He smirked at her, "Evil doers pay a lot for men like the Jackal to find information on their enemies."

"And you never thought of sharing this with me before?" She curiously eyed him wondering why he never spent any of it.

"You never asked," he leaned off the couch, "I am a unique individual and I know just how to read people. I show off money and people expect a cool smooth operator and I the Jackal, am by far that."

"Could have had me fooled Damian," she took the dress from his hands while teasing his lips.

He evilly eyed her as she leaned away from him leaving him very tempted to kiss her, "How are you feeling?"

"Better than you I think," she could see his hair was a virtual mess, not like she was complaining, but he seemed tired, and smelled a little like her vomit self.

"Thanks," he nodded sarcastically before setting his hands on his hips, "I'm finished down here and while you were taking care of your wonderful blondeness I cleaned the bathroom…"

"You cleaned the bathroom?" She looked at him frightful for he definitely didn't need to it was her problem.

He slid his hands into his pockets shrugging his shoulders, "It wasn't a big deal, I don't like messes."

"Well then you better clean yourself because you're looking like a mess," she giggled where he looked at her appalled, "Oh I'm too dirty for you?" He motioned forward, but she backed away giggling, "I'm all clean now!" He playfully tried to grab her, but she jokingly laughed back, "Don't! Spinelli!"

He chased her to the foot of the stairs where he gave up in retreat, "Alright Maximista wins. I shall take a shower and then we no are longer putting this off." He kissed her cheek and then marched upstairs with her slowly following from behind wishing he could have just left out that detail.

----

She was sitting in her bed with a yellow, but colorful stripped nightgown on and watching the local Port Charles news.

"_In other news Damian Spinelli was released from the hospital today after making a full recovery from a gun shot shoulder wound and a brain infection. Doctors believe the surgery was partially successful in restoring functions of the brain that were damaged six years ago an car accident." _

Spinelli pushed open the door where Maxie saw him dressed in a white shirt and plaid boxers, "What are they saying about me?" He annoyingly looked at the TV.

She looked away from his insatiable wet brown hair that was dropping in front of his eyes, "Oh just that you've made a full recovery."

The TV continued to report on Spinelli's activities, "_You know I have to say…"_ The anchorman turned to the anchorwoman, "_He is truly a remarkable young man."_

Spinelli looked away from the TV walking to his bag that was in the closet and pulled it out.

"_And a hero Bob," _the woman turned to the viewers, "_If you don't remember Damian Spinelli saved Commissioner, Mac Scorpio's daughter from the gang violence of Anthony Zacchara."_

Spinelli groaned as he put his personal effects into the bag and grabbed one of the of pregnancy test boxes. Maxie watched in the distance as Spinelli shook his head in disagreement to the kind things they were saying about him, obviously he still had that inner struggle to believe he was any kind of hero.

"_He was then seen two weeks later at a charity benefit concert where he donated five hundred grand to the charities advertised that night…"_

"Yeah, I'm just a great person aren't I?" He uttered under his breath as he looked at the different boxes trying to pick one.

"They're all the same Spinelli," she amusingly said as if it was rocket science to him.

"Oh, well," he glanced at her, "Which one do you want to use?" He started to hold up a box when he became distracted by the words of the reporters.

"_But what I like most about this story is the love in it," _the woman glanced at the anchorman where he took over, "_Most definitely Karen. It was reported to an insider that Damian Spinelli and the Commissioner's daughter, Maxie Jones, are seeing each other."_

Spinelli got up from his knees in an annoying tantrum and turned the TV off.

She thought it was kind of funny the way he refused to hear the last part of the story, "What's wrong Mr. Superman?"

"Nothing Ms. Lane," he smirked at her.

"Then why at the very best part of the story did you turn it off?"

"Because," he crawled onto the bed tossing the boxes in his hand aside, "I already know how the story ends." He came to a stop in front of her where his hair was completely in his eyes, "I'd kiss you but this ragged hair of mine is blocking my eye sight and unfortunately this superhero doesn't have x-ray vision."

"Oh whatever will you do Clark?" She teased while leaning towards him.

He could see her in the cracks of his hair getting closer to him, "Hope that perhaps Lois will come to my rescue."

"Well I suppose," she slowly raised her hand to clear his eyes.

He gradually formed a smile in the corner of his mouth, "My hero."

She ran her fingers through his hair, "Does this hero earn something for her honorable actions?"

He slowly nodded, "I think we can work something out," he crashed his lips into hers, but didn't stay long enough for her to engulf him in a passionate deep tongue-twisting kiss.

"Alright," he took a deep breath, "back to business." He turned away from her where he grabbed the three boxes and placed them out in a straight line, "Which of these fine expensive sticks do you to…tinkle on?"

"Tinkle on?" She looked at him if he was seriously using that word.

"Yes," he seriously until she glared at him ridiculously, "Or pee on urinate on, however this works."

"Well," she sarcastically clasped her hands together, "What do we have to choose from?"

He smirked at her, "Well there's three different ways to answer this question of our potential parenthood," he held of the clear blue test, "This will take approximately three minutes for a response and will actually read back the words 'pregnant' or 'not pregnant' so there is no confusion."

"No," she nodded her head instantly; "I'm not leaving this to technology."

"But Maximista technology…"

"Some how always screws up," she insisted, "Moving on." She took the box from his hands and grabbed the next one, e.p.t. "Now see I've taken one of these before, didn't work like I had wanted it to at the time with Lucky, but it was very quick…"

"Okay then," he nodded like he wouldn't argue, "The other one was pink stripes, but the positive/negative sign thing should be simple."

"Yeah," she glanced down at the box where she knew the next step should be actually opening the box. "You know," she quickly glanced up at him about to suggest an alternative as in a way for to run from this, but became distracted by a smile covered by his fist.

"What?" She goofily smiled at him wondering what that smirk was all about.

"Nothing," he leaned away unable to control his the grin growing on his face, "Nothing Maximista."

"No you have something on your mind," she followed him off the bed leaving the box peacefully resting on it.

He chokingly coughed, "Maximista take the test." He pointed to the bed, but she continued to pester him wondering what these humorous thoughts of his were.

"No," she smiled right back at him, "Spill it."

"Uh," he nervously began crossing his arms, "No-noth-nothing."

"Then why are you so jittery?" She suspiciously glared at him.

"Cause-" his eyes began to twitch, "Had nectar of the gods like an hour ago."

"You would've had to of had like five bottles to get you this riled up and I cut you down to three a day," she set her hands on her hips as if she caught in him a clear lie.

He couldn't stand her eyes beating up at him, "Okay!" He pulled on his hair, "I'm just excited."

She was taken back by his words. Not like she didn't believe him earlier, but she thought in the shower that perhaps he was only saying such things because it what he thought she wanted to hear. No guy really wants to be taking care of a baby at twenty-three, but then again, Johnny wanted marriage at that age. What the hell were these guys thinking?

"You're excited?" She looked at him point blank where he nodded and removed his hands from his head.

"Yeah, that's all," he nervously crossed his arms again.

"Because you really want a baby?" She seriously looked at him where he looked at her speechless by her tone.

"Because," he gently touched her arm, "I would really…" He smiled moving his hand up her arm to her shoulder and then cheek, "Want a baby with you." He told her like she was the pivotal reason as if it wouldn't mean as much with another woman. "I know it's doing things backwards."

"I'll say," she turned away from him.

"But," he walked around her, "The best things in life aren't planned."

"Oh please Spinelli!" She frustratingly looked at him, "Can you be serious about this for once instead if using proverbs to explain everything that happens to us or the Greek Roman gods!"

He looked at her taken back, "I am being serious."

"No you're not," she moved to the bed and grabbed the box, "Because I'm pretty sure," she crawled off the bed to look up at him, "How this test is going to come out…" She walked to the doorway, "And I'm telling you that I don't want to be a mother! Not now and maybe not ever!"

"Maximista," he started, but she glared at him like she didn't want to be the 'Maximista', "Maxie," he changed his wording to something more 'mature'.

He looked down at the floor, "That was the first proverb I ever truly believed in, you know why?" He looked up at her, "Because my plan for life went to shit the night that car went off that cliff."

"Spinelli," she whined as if this really wasn't going to help at all.

"Six years ago I planned to go to Princeton and be the next Steve Jobs, you know the creator of apple?" He knew she was oblivious to who that was. "The family was supposed to come later if ever."

He set his hands on his hips, "Before I left with my grandfather that night, I told her

my mother-grandmother that was the plan and as usual she did anything she could to take me off my high horse and told me the best things in life aren't planned and that my plan would fail."

Spinelli nodded like he didn't believe the woman, "She was right." He glanced down at the carpet, "Six hours later I was drowning in a river and woke up as the Jackal." He looked up at her pointing to himself in excellence, "I attended NYU and majored in communications with a minor in business and visual arts while mastering in two languages Italian and Latin."

"So you're even more brilliant than you were before Spinelli, whoop-de-do!" She lashed out wondering why it was necessary he list off his resume.

"The summer of 2006, I graduate. The Jackal has dominated cyberspace without a single government agent onto him, but he's starving for money. So I put a team together and for two months ran a successful underground operation in security software fraud."

She looked at him as if he couldn't be serious, "No you didn't."

"It was a brilliant concept," he ignored her doubts, "Create a virus only you can solve?"

She knew he was smart, but could he have really done this to people? "I don't believe you."

"Honestly," he smiled, "I created a bug that attacked Norton Anti-Virus security software."

She nervously looked at him knowing she had that on her computer, they had that at the office.

He crossed his arms, "The program made them believe their bank account and social security information was being stolen."

"You stole from them?" She asked, but not because she was disappointed in him, she just couldn't believe he was this…bad.

"No," he nodded, "I presented the cure and conned New York City's wealthiest. You'd be surprised what people will do to keep their secrets and how much they'll pay, they were none the wiser."

"You can't con people Spinelli," she huffed humorously leaning her shoulder on the doorframe not believing this story.

"No that's what the other members were for, I was the brains and they were the face of the organization. Our next target, Mr. Lorenzo Alcazar, knew that."

"SO let me guess," she sarcastically sighed looking away from him at the box to keep her hands busy opening it, "He threatened you, forced you to work for him and that's how you got to Port Charles?"

"Yeah," he nodded his head like she guessed it correct, "Right after he forced me to turn in my co-workers."

"You sold out your friends?" She leaned off the doorframe, would he really do that?

"First hackers and con artists are not friends, we were mortal enemies sworn into an allegiance for money, I'm not proud that they were killed, actually," he stopped in his tracks looking up at the ceiling, "I take that back. Because they ran off with my money and my patent, I couldn't disappear and by the time I knew I had been fucked over, Alcazar had found me. So it's all relative to me."

"Spinelli," she looked at him kind shocked, but at the same time intrigued, he was a bad boy all along.

He looked up at her, "I'm not telling you this to scare you, no, that's the last thing I want to do."

"I'm not scared," she oddly smiled at him, "Okay so you had a completely different life on the opposite side of the law, can't tell you that I didn't exactly see that coming."

He astonishingly looked at her surprised, "I really looked that ruthless?"

She burst out laughing, "Heavens no."

"Then how can you believe I was a bad guy?" He stopped in front of her, "How can you believe what I just said and not be running the other direction?"

She nodded amusingly, "Spinelli you told me it was Lulu that apparently made you human again, if you were this villain before you came here, I was the bad blonde one. We have our identities."

He stopped in front of her, his eyebrows frowning in confusion of her logic to his perhaps not necessary story, "Don't ask don't tell, I presume?" He took the box from her where she wanted to grab it back.

"Oh no," she nodded in disagreement, "Sometime, not tonight, I want to know how the Jackal operates."

"Well," he situated his body just ever so close to hers where she had to lean against the doorframe, "It's pretty simple."

He leaned his arm just above her head, "Seek." He slowly leaned in to kiss her heck, "Attack," he whispered into her ear. He moved his lips from her cheek, "And…" He motioned to her lips where as he said "dest-roy" she abruptly said his name.

She couldn't help but laugh, "Um…I have to pee."

He looked away from her to the floor laughing, "And you couldn't wait till after I kiss you?" He surprisingly looked up at her.

"Spinelli it's not funny," she playfully hit him.

"Oh I think it's plenty funny," he teased her nodding his head.

"Yeah of course you'd think that," she playfully, but non amusingly looked down at his hand, "Give me that."

He whisked it away from her hand, "Ah…" He looked at her to listen to him, "The jackal didn't get to finish telling the point of his entire story."

"Spinelli," she pouted, "I know what you're going to say."

"Oh you do?" He glared at her know it all self.

"Spinelli who do you think you're dealing with?" She crossed her arms.

"A sassy Maxie at the moment," he smirked at her before glancing down at the box, "Now…As I was saying." He took a stick out where he curiously stared at it.

"Spinelli, could we please get this two minute test done in less than two hours?" She tried to get the stick from his hand, "I'm tired and I know as soon as I get these results I'm going to cry on your shoulder."

"Which then the Jackal will hold you and tell you everything is going to be okay," he softly looked at her as he held out the stick, "Plans aren't meant to be followed through and every plan that failed in my life, something better came along and eventually brought me to you."

She took the test from his hand and nervously looked up at him from the words that he just uttered and deeply touched her, "Whatever happens after this please don't ever forget that I love you."

He nodded hopefully, "I won't."

She waited for him to say something else, maybe something along the same lines of 'I love you too', but when he didn't, she felt a little sting. In the smile he gave her, she saw a crack of disappoint, but moreover she saw a man who would always remember she loved him, but might not ever be able to understand that love.

"Okay," she kissed his cheek and then walked down the hall.

He nervously tapped his fingers on the doorframe as she just got to the bathroom, "I love you Maxie."

She looked up at him completely taken off guard by his words, but as he uttered, 'Forever and always," her frowned turned into a confident smile which was enough to lead her into the bathroom.

He moved away from the doorway when the door of the bathroom closed and walked to the bed where he patiently sat on the couch, but stared down the clock on his wrist.

_8:26:31_

He looked up at the doorway, nothing.

_8:27:45_

He rose up from the bed.

_8:28:00_

He looked at himself in the mirror.

_8:29:15_

He paced the room.

_8:30:05_

"Spinelli," he heard her voice, stopped in his tracks and looked up at her.

She knew his eyes didn't mean to imitate her, but they did, "Um…Will you…" She motioned him the test and nodded like of course, "Sure."

She walked to the bed when he took it from her hands and sat quietly. He looked at his watch and decided to give it another minute or so before looking at it.

"How are you feeling?" He turned to her trying to make the time pass by.

"Um," she nervously grinned, "Like I want to throw up."

"I'm sorry," he put his hands on his hips feeling like her emotions were his fault, "I'm sorry I can't make this easier for you."

She nodded negatively, "This isn't your fault."

"It's not yours either," he spoke up before looking down at his watch.

She watched as he looked up from his watch and then looked down at the test. She waited for his expression to give something away, a smirk = pregnant, a frown = not pregnant. But all he did was give an 'okay' nod and walk over to her.

"What is it?" She unnervingly asked.

He bent down on one knee and held it up to her, "See for yourself."

She was annoyed because the whole point of him looking at it first was for him to tell her the results. She looked at the symbol before her and slowly took the test from his hands in hers and intently stared at it.

"This, this looks like a division sign," she turned to the bed to grab another test, but he grabbed her hand, "You know what this is."

She looked into his eyes with continued disbelief, "You know I was wrong, technology is very accurate these days."

"And so is this test," he softly looked at her.

"No," she whined, "It can't be." She could feel the tears in her eyes, "Because it's a plus sign and the last time I check a baby is not a positive thing!"

"Oh sure it is Maxie," his hand softly touched her leg while his other hand slowly put down the hand with the test in.

"That's easy for you to say you're not the one who has to give up her career or body, Spinelli my body will never look the same!" She pointed at herself.

"Yes it will," he giggled.

"How can you laugh!" She hit him, "We're parental units now!"

"Parental units?" He goofily grinned at her.

"Don't mock me," she seriously tried to stare at him.

"Never," he formed a smile in the corner of his mouth.

She quietly eyed him wishing she could look at him with anger or hate, but she broke down in tears folding her hands over her face, "What are we going to do?"

He slowly rose up from his knee, softly kissed her head and then walked to his black duffel bag.

"Spinelli," she whined his name moving her hands from her tearful face. She could see him rummaging through his bag, "You can't leave me. You promised."

He looked over his shoulder, "You think I'm leaving you?"

"I don't know what you're doing," she pointed at the bag.

He looked away from her completely appalled by her vulnerability, but understood it completely. "Maximista" he called as he rose up from his knees where she saw something in his hands that made her sobs dry up quickly.

"Spin," she slowly looked up from his hand as he stopped in front of her.

He got down on one knee and took her hands in his, "We, are going to figure this out together as promised." He showed her the box where she nervously ran her thumb over it, "Spinelli."

"Open it," he hoped she would understand when she opened the box.

She pushed it open and looked up at him in surprise of what she wasn't expecting.

"It isn't an engagement ring, but if you want to get married, we can." He motioned to the box, "Can I?"

She nodded taking the box from her hand where he removed a ring that in the center was a bright red heart gemstone built directly into the band. Accompanying it were blue sapphires on either side and then a trade off between diamonds and blue sapphires going around the rest of the band.

"Spinelli," she looked up at him wondering why he was doing this.

"This is a promise ring," he studied the red heart, "It will symbolize the eternity of our love and our friendship." He took her hand, "With this ring," he began to slide it on her ring finger, "I promise to be the best friend and the best man in your heart. I promise that it will be you and me forever." He looked up at her smiling, but acknowledging her fearful face, "It isn't going to be easy. I'm not perfect and I know you're not perfect, but it is our flaws that make us beautiful." He slowly cupped her cheek, "You will always be the only one in the room."

"Spinelli, what if I mess this up? You know me," she whimpered looking away from him, "I will do something and…"

"We learn from our mistakes and become better for it," he looked into her vision, "Of course we regret the pain we caused, but," he looked into her eyes, "It is that pain that allows tolerance for others that are equally as flawed such as myself."

He glanced down at her hand in his and brought it to his lips, "We are an imperfect species that are bound to have regrets. Please don't see as our one night together a regret because we've been blessed with a little Jackal or Fashionista."

She pursed her lip, "Spinelli I don't know if I can do this."

"Will you at least try?" He honestly looked at her to put an effort.

"Spinelli," she doubtingly looked at him.

"Please." He insisted, "If after we see the doctor and have time to really think about this and you would rather abort this wee one," he nodded his head negatively like the idea would kill him, "I will try to find a way to deal with it, but life is about adventures and I think you're greatest adventure is about to begin."

She saw his eagerly optimistic smile and couldn't say no, "Okay."

"Alright," he smiled in relief, "Now, would you like me to hold you?"

"Yes," she nodded where she watched him get up from his knees and walk to turn the lights off.

"Get in bed Ms. Jones," he motioned and she quietly nodded.

He flipped the night switch off and then wiped the bed free of pregnancy tests, "Are you going to put the television on so the jackal can hear what else he's good at besides being a hero."

She giggled at his sarcasm, he never has such a mouth before, but that's what she liked about him. He was the man she loved, but at the same time a man she didn't know, but wanted to. There were so many adventures going on at once that she didn't know which one to choose, but as she knew he would say 'why choose one when you can have them all'.

He crawled into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her in whatever way she wanted to be held and then softly began stroking her hair, "Oh and Maximista?"

"Yes," she looked up at him with silent tears in her eyes.

"Everything is going to be okay," he sincerely told her glistening blue eyes, "And whenever you feel like things aren't going to be okay, when you feel alone or we're apart because of business or some stupid fight," he leaned in closer, "When you lose faith in us." He took her hand where the jewels shimmered in the little light provided by the television, "You can look at this ring and remember all the memories we've made and all the times we've come back to each other."

"Because it's you and me forever," she repeated his words from earlier with a soft smile.

"You and me forever," he pulled her into a tighter snuggle and then ever so softly kissed her cheek. As he held her tenderly in his arms he wondered when the day would come that she would notice that such words were embed in the band of her ring.

------

Author's Note: Aw that was sweet and Spinelli's background! Gosh that's a little crazy. The plot thickens. His past will come back to haunt him. Next chapter: Dr. Lee visit, Spinelli and Maxie babysit the stone cold special and Maxie's presumptions about Mac are right. Mac isn't happy by what he discovers. Should be a very humorous couple of chapters….r.e.v.i.e.w….


	24. First Ultrasound can be a doozy

Author's Note: Hey! Thank you for the reviews! It's good to know I still have an audience. This is a cute chapter, but at the same time brings up some interesting trust issues. Robin and Elizabeth play matchmaker. Enjoy! Review! Thanks guys!

Chapter 24

Dr. Kelly Lee had been an obstetrician for many years. In those years she had seen a variety of patients ranging in age and relationship status. She learned early on that each patient, despite having the same common fears and worries for the miracle of life they were carrying, were so very different from one other. Carly Jacks who wanted a baby so desperately with her husband that she tried every fertility drug and therapy that was offered. Samantha McCall who had to accept that her ability to bear children had been taken away from her by the strike of a bullet. Lulu Spencer who realized that at her young age a child would be a burden on two parents who conceived him or her in a lie rather than love. Elizabeth Webber who made it look easy with two beautiful children, yet very few knew that she had experienced two miscarriages. Courtney Mathews who wished for a miracle only to die as she achieved it. Robin Scorpio who believed for the longest time that it would be her HIV status rather than a man to prevent her from having the baby she always wanted. Their medical records told one story and their faces told another. As a whole they were mothers even the ones that never left the hospital with their bundle of joy. At the end of the day it was those feelings of maternity through their experiences of a life growing inside of them that bonded them together, whether they liked it or not. Today Maxie Jones would join Dr. Lee's group of patients no matter what the outcome of her pregnancy might be. She was a mother now, a mother who could identify in some part with all the other women of Port Charles.

"Hello Maxie," Dr. Lee warmly smiled at her who was sitting on the exam table in jeans and black blouse over a white tank top. She closed the door, "So I see here that you think you might be pregnant." There was small silence before Maxie reluctantly smiled, "Uh yeah."

Dr. Lee looked up from the charts, "It's okay to be a little nervous."

"I'm not nervous, just not ready for this," Maxie corrected her with slight attitude.

"It's perfectly normal to feel like that," she confidently smiled as she stopped in front of the exam table.

"Um Kelly?" Maxie abruptly spoke trying to be as nice about this as possible, "Can you please not tell me how to feel about this or what I should be feeling? Because right now I'm not feeling like I want to be a mother.

"My apologies," Kelly nodded at her, "I was just trying to let you know that it's okay to be feeling this."

"Try telling that to my boyfriend," she uneasily looked at her.

"So you know who the father is?" Dr. Lee asked just to clarify for it seemed like so many women in Port Charles never knew who knocked them up.

"Yes," Maxie nodded with a grin trying not to take offense to that question.

"Will he be joining us today?" Kelly asked while turning on her computer and then glancing at her.

"Yeah," Maxie slightly rolled her eyes in annoyance at that, "He should be here in a few minutes."

Dr. Lee nodded and then set her charts down on the desk, "Maxie." She disappointingly turned to her leaning her back against her desk, "I suggest after this appointment or sometime soon that you discuss with the father your feelings about this."

Maxie nodded, "I've tried, but he doesn't want to listen."

Dr. Lee frowned, "I see. Well you might want to be a little more sensitive to his feelings."

Dr. Lee looked down at her charts, "I've been doing this for a long time and women always tend to over estimate the bond a man makes with his child."

"The baby is the size of a lima bean, how does a man get attached to that?" Maxie honestly questioned her like it was absurd.

Dr. Lee giggled, "They just do." She looked up at her, "They're waiting nine months to make the connection that a woman makes with her child from the very beginning."

She saw Maxie's reluctance to concur with her so she elaborated, "These men, boyfriends, husbands, friends, however they're related to the mother, they come in here completely devoted to her giving her all the support she needs, which is A LOT."

"Well she's only sacrificing her body and career among other things," Maxie sarcastically looked at her, "They're supposed to do that."

Dr. Lee nodded with a smile in disagreement, "Not necessarily. I have patients who are single mothers that go through the entire pregnancy without having the father by their side to tell them they look gorgeous even though they look like a whale."

Maxie giggled, the thought horrified her.

Dr. Lee leaned off her desk, "Or to drive around midnight looking for an open grocery store to by Cheetos and ice cream."

Maxie wandered her mind at the mentioning of such craving, she was definitely intrigued.

"Maxie?" Dr. Lee looked at her somewhat amused by her expression.

"Oh sorry," Maxie embarrassingly giggled.

"As I was saying, fatherhood doesn't really feel real to him, until he holds him or her."

"Well the same could be said for the mother," Maxie looked at her like there was no difference.

"Yes," Dr. Lee titled her head back and forth, "But he's an outsider, your not, the baby is growing inside of you, he can't share that or understand it, all he can do is live off those moments where he hears the heart beat in an ultrasound or feels the baby kick or sees the sonogram."

"Kelly!" Patrick shouted as he burst through the door and closed it behind him where he leaned on it, "She is driving me nuts." Patrick saw Kelly's smile that she was busy, "Oh…" He glanced at Maxie, "Sorry, so sorry." He quickly closed his eyes, "Just um, if Robin asks if you've seen me…"

"I'll say no," Kelly annoyingly smiled at him to get his but out of here.

"Thank you!" He waved at them, "Um sorry, so sorry." He turned to the door where as he opened it he poked his head out, "Phew…" He slowly eased out when he head Robin's voice from down the hall "PATRICK!"

"Damn!" Patrick sprinted from the doorway closing the door behind him.

Kelly disappointedly, but humorously nodded her head, "And then there are fathers like Patrick who as much as they are looking forward to meeting their baby, they secretly can't wait for the woman they love to get back to her relatively normal self."

"Only Robin is loud like that all the time," Maxie giggled knowing that it was no baby or hormones that is just how she is.

"I think he forgot that," Dr. Lee looked right at her laughing.

"Yeah, I think so too," Maxie giggled into an awkward silence before looking at the clock, "I'm sorry Kelly, Spinelli said it wouldn't take long."

"It's okay, we have a few minutes left, I'd really hate for us to start with out him," she walked over to her computer that had now booted up. She pulled up Maxie's file and then turned on the monitor to set up for an ultrasound, "Anyway to what I was saying earlier, men make these little connections that don't become complete until the birth. It's heart breaking when a man never gets to solidify that…" She glanced up at Maxie, "So as soon as you know what you want, I advise you not to lead him on. Don't let him create a life or build a world or excitement and love for a child, if possible, because it would only be cruel."

Maxie nodded like she understood, "I will."

"Good," Dr. Lee looked away from her, "So," she grabbed the charts while taking a seat in her chair, "Let's go over your symptoms."

Maxie rolled her eyes while leaning back on the exam bed, "You name it, I have it."

"Well let's just see here."

"Can't you just read off my blood tests?" Maxie desperately looked at her wanting to stop beating around the bush.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Dr. Lee grinned at her.

Maxie sarcastically looked at her like this wasn't much fun at all, "Am I supposed to be laughing?"

Dr. Lee humorously grinned, "No Maxie. So how when was the last time you had sex?"

"July fourteenth," Maxie somewhat sighed, this felt so very embarrassing.

"And missed period?"

"Month and a week, I got a very light, but short period."

"When?" Dr. Lee looked up at here.

"Um about ten days I guess after Spinelli and I were together," she said not understanding what she might have had to explain that.

"How much blood?"

"Not a lot, that's why I said light, it lasted like three days."

"Were you having an cramping at this time?" Kelly seriously looked at her, "You were under quite a lot of stress with Spinelli, I'm just trying to see if these are possible symptoms of miscarriage."

"Miscarriage?" Maxie's eyes worried, "But I took a test like three days ago that said I was pregnant, what happened four to five weeks ago…"

"Shouldn't matter," Dr. Lee looked at her, "But with your heart and the stress that you've been under lately, could complicate that pregnancy. That's why I want know exactly what you've been feeling so that if you are indeed pregnant we can go about the right steps in monitoring you."

"Okay," Maxie scarcely said, "I haven't had any cramps, more like nausea, vomiting…"

"Also known as morning sickness," Dr. Lee smirked as she checked off symptoms, "Have you been tired a lot, a little moody?"

"Yes, but then again when the man you love is in a hospital and you're not allowed to see him you tend to not sleep."

"That's understandable, what about frequent urination?" Kelly waited to hear the giggles that all women seem to make.

"Annoyingly yes," Maxie blushed thinking of Spinelli's word for peeing…_tinkle._

"Okay and lastly are your breasts a little tender?" Dr. Lee looked up at her and saw a nod.

"Alright then," Dr. Lee turned to her computer, "So far the symptoms are all there, but…"

_Knock._

"Who is it?" Kelly playfully shouted.

"It is I the Jackal aka Damian Spinelli." He stood outside dressed in tan shorts, a blue polo shirt and a leather jacket with his hair styled the 'Damian' way.

Maxie warmly smiled at hearing his voice especially as he continued, "Is my Maximista in there and do I have permission to enter?"

Dr. Lee giggled turning to the door, "Yes she's in here and permission granted."

The door slowly opened with Spinelli peaking in, "Why hello." He brightly smiled.

Maxie didn't know what came over her, but she found herself reaching to him with her hand and playfully smiling at him, "Hey."

Her smile inspired him as it appeared that she was perhaps just as excited as him. He closed the door behind him and gladly took her hand in his, "Sorry I'm late."

"Was everything okay?" Maxie somewhat worryingly looked at him.

"Superb, the jackal is in fine health, I hope the same can be said for Maxie?" He looked up at Dr. Lee.

"Well," Dr. Lee looked down at her tests, "Maxie seems to be in great health as well as seven weeks pregnant."

Spinelli excitedly kissed Maxie's hand and then the side of her head where Maxie shockingly looked at her as if the pregnancy test she had taken a few days ago had not occurred, "Really?"

"Yes," she nodded, "The blood test and the pregnancy test you took at home, match and I'm sure the ultrasound will provide the same results."

Dr. Lee looked away from Maxie's somewhat pale frightened face as most unexpected mothers expressed and looked at Spinelli who was beaming, "Mr. Spinelli, are you okay?" She sweetly asked at the nervously excited man. "Do you need to sit down?"

Maxie glanced over at him to see he was literally about to bounce off the walls at the news.

"No," Spinelli looked at her like he could handle this, "I'm the Jackal. The jackal doesn't get over excited."

Maxie giggled at his flushed face, "Spinelli I think you need to sit down."

He looked at her disagreeing, "I'm fine. I'm gonna be dad, the Jackal is going to be a parental unit, I'm…"

"Spinelli," Maxie sweetly called his name, "Hun, you look like you're going to pass out."

"Perhaps," he looked at her with a nervous smile.

"Then I suggest you take a seat Mr. Spinelli," Dr. Lee motioned to the stool behind him.

Spinelli nodded like of course there was a stool behind him and ten took a seat on it, "I'm really happy though Max," he kissed her hand, "Absolutely ecstatic."

"Yeah I can see that," she sarcastically grinned at him, "Kelly can we continue please?"

"You bet," she looked back at her computer, "So as I said you are seven weeks along, if you decide that you two don't want the baby, 96% of women have abortions within the 8th week."

"Um that won't be necessary I think we're keeping it," he confidently nodded, but Dr. Lee somewhat ignored his statement as did Maxie and continued.

"Well if you two change your mind, I suggest nothing later than eight or eight and a half weeks. That's when it's the safest and the baby isn't fully developed yet."

Dr. Lee looked at Maxie hoping the information she gave was enough, "If you have any questions you can of course call me or go online."

"Alright," Maxie nodded like she might have to do that.

"So just a question," Spinelli cleared his throat while scooting the stool forward, "Is everything she's been feeling, the sickness, is…"

"Completely normal." Dr. Lee smiled at him, "The morning sickness should go away in about a month or so. I suggest saltines, dry cereal, pretzels, jell-o, soup, drink ginger-ale but most importantly which I'm sure you know is to keep your meals small, but eat as frequently as you need."

Dr. Lee turned back to her charts next to her, "Although everything looks okay," she turned to Maxie with her charts in her hand, "Your blood pressure concerns me."

"What's wrong?" Maxie unknowingly squeezed his hand while worryingly looking at Dr. Lee who never mentioned this earlier.

"You have slightly borderline high blood pressure," she flipped through her papers, "I understand you've been under a lot of stress lately."

Spinelli raised his hand, "That's my fault."

Dr. Lee nodded, "Well now that you're all better Mr. Spinelli. You should be trying to make Maxie's life as easy as possible."

Spinelli glanced down at Maxie, "Believe me I have been trying." He insistently looked at her like she should be more relaxed with him at home.

"Maxie," Dr. Lee looked for her attention, "It is very important in these early stages of pregnancy that you maintain a normal blood pressure. There's no need for you to worry about Mr. Spinelli anymore."

Maxie softly smiled looking up at Spinelli, "I promise I'll take it easy."

He nodded like he knew she would, "Dr. Lee," he looked up at her, "What are the complications if she has difficulty with this?"

"Well problems range from miscarriage to early birth to just an overall complicated pregnancy. High blood pressure can endanger both the mother and the baby and cause a low birth weight or harm the mother's kidneys…" Dr. Lee could see her informational discussion had only stressed them, especially Maxie.

Dr. Lee got up from her chair, "But that's not going to happen right?" She touched Maxie's hand, "You are going to focus on this baby and keep stressful things like work and Mr. Handsome man to your right at ease."

Maxie nodded, "I'll do my best."

"Okay," Dr. Lee nodded, "Now for the ultrasound." She excitedly smiled for this was her favorite part of the entire appointment. Dr. Lee looked up at Spinelli, "Doing okay still Mr. Spinelli?"

"Yes," he smiled, but words seemed to leave his mouth at the excitement he was in.

Dr. Lee grinned looking back down at Maxie who seem to lit up at the sight of his happiness, "Just wait until you see the ultrasound," she turned away from the two grabbing the small tube of gel, "You will have smiles that will last you for days."

Taking a seat in her chair, she turned to Maxie who had her shirt pulled back, "It's going to be a little cold." She smiled assuredly before squeezing the gel on flat abdomen.

Dr. Lee looked away from the obvious happy couple and took the transducer in her hand, "With the ultrasound we should know just exactly how far along you are and the due date."

Maxie looked up at Spinelli with an excited smile, she never thought she'd actually be eager to meet the little person growing inside of her.

"Spinelli," Maxie softly called his name while squeezing his hand.

He looked at with wide smile, "Words cannot express what I'm feeling at this moment."

Maxie giggled, "But your happy?"

"Happy?" He looked at her taken back, "I am beyond happy." He kissed her hand and then gently pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes, "I am content, blissful, in high spirits, whatever you want to describe it."

She softly smiled at him like she wanted to cry, _damn hormones_ she cursed in her head as she couldn't really understand what she was feeling.

Dr. Lee looked up at the screen, "The computer is just scanning images, we should get something…oh…" She looked at Maxie and Spinelli who were still gazing at each other.

"Maxie…Spinelli," she called for their attention where as soon as they gave it to her she pointed to the screen, "This is your baby."

Dr. Lee smiled to herself at the silent gasp the filled the room, it was the gasp of love, a love that she knew was not just coming from Spinelli, but Maxie as well.

"That's," Maxie pointed at the screen completely in awe.

"Yes," she looked back the screen, "That's the head, those are the hands and the feet."

"That's," Maxie paused again taking a deep breath of mixed feelings.

"Amazing," Spinelli finished as he intently stared at the screen.

"The baby is only about the size of a blue berry, keep that in mind." She looked away from them, "Let's see if we can get a heartbeat." She turned the dial and typed a few buttons on her keyboard and suddenly a rhythm filled the silence of gasps in the room.

"Little guy's got a strong heartbeat," he looked at Maxie who seemed to have trouble accepting the fact that they created such a strong heart compared to hers.

"Mr. Spinelli, it's too soon to be determining gender."

"Well, I'm calling it now, placing my bet, it's a boy."

"Does mom have an opinion?" Dr. Lee looked at her who was still shocked by what she saw.

"I…I just want a healthy baby," she smiled up at Spinelli who nodded in agreement, "Yes a healthy baby with a tint of testosterone."

Maxie giggled gently cupping his cheek and then running her fingers through her hair, "Well then," she glanced back at monitor to sarcastically put her two cents in, "I think I already spot her with my high heels on."

"Oh no," Spinelli goofily nodded, "This has got jackal junior written all over it, can't you see the laptop."

Dr. Lee looked away at the two, she saw this every once and a while and thought it was incredibly cute at the gender bickering. She looked away from them to her computer, "Well you to can find out what you're having early April, that is your baby's due date." She turned to them taking the transducer off Maxie's waist and taking a towel to wipe the gel off.

Spinelli stood up from the chair giving Maxie kiss on the forehead, "It doesn't really matter to me what we have," he looked down at her with soft smile, "As long as he or she is healthy and I have you."

She sweetly cupped his cheek, "Same." She smiled where he leaned into kiss her lips.

Dr. Lee happily nodded looking away from them, she loved it when couples blessed a child and she could see in the reflection of her computer screen that Maxie was not acting her feelings.

"Alright you two love birds," Dr. Lee got up from her chair, "Let me fill you a prescription for prenatal vitamins."

Spinelli leaned away from the kiss and stepped away from the exam table to give Maxie some space to compose herself.

"Here you go," she handed the prescription to Maxie once she got off the table, "I recommend a lot of rest, keep the stress down, and try to eat something as well as drink a lot of water."

"Thank you," Maxie smiled where she turned to Spinelli and hugged him.

He lifted her off the ground in his hug, "I told you everything would be okay." He whispered where she said, "I know."

Dr. Lee opened the door, "You two…three, have a great afternoon.

Spinelli gently set Maxie back down on the ground, "We will." He smiled at her before turning to the door with her hand in his.

"Bye Maxie," Dr. Lee smiled at her hoping that if she received any phone calls from her that it would to schedule her next appointment.

The door closed behind them and Spinelli kissed her hand once more as he stopped to turn to her, "Wow."

"What?" She nervously looked at him wondering what exactly his thoughts were now.

"We are officially parents now," he smirked.

"Parental units you mean," she teased him.

He giggled, "Yes." He softly smiled at her, "How are you really feeling?"

"Well," she stepped closer to him, "I'm nervous and I'm scared and I'm not sure what I really want yet, but as soon as I know, I promise you'll be the first to know."

He nodded knowing that was all he could do, he didn't want to push her to his thinking, but at the same time after seeing her reactions earlier, he couldn't help but already know her answer.

"Spinelli," she stared at his hair, "How many times do I have to tell you, I don't like it when you try to play Aussie."

As she styled his hair to having his banks over his forehead he awkwardly looked at her, "I'm not playing Mr. Aussie Jackal, I'm playing Mr. Damian Spinelli."

"Well," she sharply continued to style it, "You are Spinelli to me." She motioned her hand from his hair, "Much better. Improvement."

"Is Maximista happy now?" He smirked at her where she nodded, "Yes."

"So what do you want to do?" He sweetly smiled with his hand running through her hair now, "Are you hungry at all, tired? We could go back and take a nap?"

She smiled in relief like it all sounded well, "Let me get this prescription filled and then I think lunch and a nap sounds good after we stop by the grocery store."

"Grocery store?" He brushed himself closer against her body and then put his arms around her, "Cravings already?"

"Well," she giggled like this was absurd, "Kelly mentioned Cheetos and ice cream…" She paused as Spinelli began to cringe.

"Aw seriously?" He looked at her taken back where she insecurely looked at him, "I mean there's nothing wrong with mixing chips and ice cream, but you can't crave barbecue chips?"

She teasingly smiled at him, "Sorry, my taste buds are screaming Cheetos and…" She looked off to the side, "salt and vinegar chips."

He goofily smiled bringing her attention back to him, "Whatever your heart desires we will get."

"Even if she desires fun and games afterwards?" She mischievously eyed him where he looked at her intrigued, "Fun and games you say?"

"A little mattress tag?" She rose her eyebrows and he leaned ever so close to her lips, "I could really get used to this."

"Well," she evilly smiled, "Take advantage of it as long as you can because in a few months you won't want to get with this…"

"Oh on the contrary," he pulled her into a passionate kiss, "The jackal will always want you." He leaned away from her lips to kiss her cheek and then caress down her neck.

"Spinelli!" She rolled her eyes as his kissing along her neck was making her ticklish, "Stop it."

He playfully leaned away from her, "Okay…" He growled pulling himself away, "Well let's make our way out of here so we can get to those games…"

She giggled, "Alright," and then turned down the hall with him, placed her arm around his waist.

They were just about to turn the corner when Maxie saw the nurse's station was busy, busy with Elizabeth, Nadine, Robin, Epiphany and Leyla.

"You know Spinelli," she pulled him from turning the corner, "we could get this filled out another floor."

Spinelli oddly looked at her and then poke his head into the room, "Maxie…" He glanced back at her where she whined an explanation, "If we go in there everyone is going to know which means someone is going to slip the news to Mac and he will go ballistic."

"So you want to keep this to ourselves for a little bit?" He asked which he sort of admired the idea. If he wanted anyone to know that he was going to be a father, it was Jason.

"Yes," she pulled on his shirt and he nodded, "Okay, we'll act like our lives totally did not change for the better." He teased her and she playfully hit him, "Don't you say anything."

"I won't," he smirked at her and she playfully, but seriously looked at him, "I mean it."

"Scouts honor…"

"Don't give me the scout's honor thing again," she playfully took his hand down and dragged him onto the main floor.

Elizabeth picked up the phone, "Nurse's station floor three…" She paused when Lucky interrupted her with unsettling news. "Lucky you can't cancel. You said you could watch the boys."

Robin glanced at Elizabeth as soon as she hung up the phone, "Did he get called into work?"

"Yup," she annoyingly sighed, "Audrey is on vacation and it looks like I will not be getting one of my own."

Robin frowned, "I wish I could help, but Patrick and I made plans tonight."

"No it's okay," Elizabeth smiled, "I wouldn't want you two to cancel your plans because once that baby comes, you two will hardly ever have to time for each other."

Robin rolled her eyes like she was not looking forward to that, "What about Sam?"

"She's with Kristina and Molly tonight," Elizabeth thoughtfully tried to think of a back up plan, "Nadine…Leyla…"

Nadine sadly frowned, "I have plans with Nicholas."

"And I have a date with Matt…"

"Ohhh," Robin and Elizabeth gushed, "Dr. Hunter?"

"Yeah well," she was about to elaborate on why she took the date when she noticed Spinelli and Maxie enter the room.

Staring at Spinelli and hearing Maxie's giggles, Leyla looked away from them back to her work, "Sometimes Mr. Right just isn't the guy you think is right for you."

Elizabeth and Robin exchanged glances and then turned their attention to Maxie where Robin asked, "Well you two look like that happy couple."

Maxie looked up at Spinelli placing her hand on hi chest, "Yeah well, it's nice when you don't have to worry about brain infections or shoulder wounds anymore."

"Full recovery?" Elizabeth asked with a hopefully 'yes' expression.

"Yup, full recovery, the Jackal is back to himself." He grinned looking down at Maxie's glow and kissed her cheek.

"That's wonderful," Elizabeth asked where the phone rang, "Nurses-Oh hey Bobbie, thanks for calling me back, are you available to babysit tonight?"

Robin looked at Maxie and Spinelli with a questioning glare, "That's really great Spinelli about your recovery and how did you're appointment go with Kelly?"

Maxie choked, "As expected."

"Oh and are you two expecting anything in the next couple of months?" Robin curiously looked at her knowing she'd get Maxie's stink eye.

"No," Spinelli spoke up to save Maxie from any more speechless silence, "Maxie and I are not expecting a baby."

"You're not?" Robin surprisingly looked at her, "You're not pregnant."

"Are you crazy Robin," Maxie giggled, "Could you imagine me with a baby?"

"Yeah," Robin slowly smiled with a smirk, "I could."

"Well," Spinelli gently began rubbing Maxie's back, "She's not pregnant."

"If you're not pregnant than what was it?" Robin continued to pester them.

"Oh you know me," Maxie rolled her eyes, "I got myself all worried about Spinelli and got a little dehydrated…"

"It's reasonable," Spinelli insisted, but Robin looked like she wasn't buying it.

"Yeah I guess it could happen," Robin goofily smiled.

"Robin don't look at us like that," Maxie annoyingly glared at her.

"Like what?" Robin innocently looked at them trying not to laugh.

"Like we're not telling the truth," Maxie looked at her like it wasn't funny.

"You said it not me," Robin smirked before hearing the phone ring and picking it up, "Oh hello Lulu, yeah Elizabeth is right here." Robin handed her the phone where the first thing Elizabeth said was, "Lulu you better say your not busy…LULU!"

Spinelli suddenly became uncomfortable with Lulu being so close yet so far away, "Well you know we have to go Robin, but thank you for checking up on us, it was very thoughtful of you."

"Lulu remember that time I let you into you know who's room and you said you owed me well I really need a night out with the girls and…Lulu? Lulu?" Elizabeth looked at the angrily looked at the phone, "Great."

"Yeah no problem." Robin nodded seeing Maxie's eyes that were looking at her to drop this.

Spinelli smiled looking away from Robin and motioning to Maxie to start walking towards the elevators, "See you later."

Robin looked over to Epiphany, "Something is not right there."

"Or maybe something is, maybe they are enjoying their first few days together since all this mess happened," Epiphany honestly looked at her, "And you need to get back to work."

Robin watched as Epiphany stepped off the back of the Nurse's station and then nodded her head negatively as if she was wrong, "No, she is pregnant." She looked up at Elizabeth who was still stressed out, "You know what about asking Spinelli and Maxie?"

"No," Elizabeth nodded like she couldn't do that, "Spinelli just got back, they deserve some time alone."

Robin was just about to suggest she ask anyway when Kelly walked in, "Oh you guys are still here!" She looked at Spinelli and Maxie just about to step into the elevator.

Maxie stopped in her tracks, "Shit."

"Turn around," Spinelli guided her, "Come on," he gently took her hand where as she turned in his direction he whispered, "I'll do the talking."

Dr. Lee looked at Robin and Elizabeth wondering why it was taking them so long to react. Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and Robin just stood there becoming entertained.

"Yes Dr. Lee?" Spinelli asked as he walked with Maxie over to her.

"Um," she giggled by their faces, "I forgot to give you these." She reached into her folder, "Most parents want the sonograms of their first baby."

Maxie ironically grinned wondering how much louder she could get, "Thanks." She took them from Dr. Lee and handed them to Spinelli in a sarcastic tone, "Here DAD."

Dr. Lee eyed them with continued confusion, "Okay well have a good day."

"Oh we definitely will now!" Maxie smiled at her with the biggest grin.

As soon as Dr. Lee walked away Maxie and Spinelli forcefully had no choice, but to face the Nurse's station where Elizabeth and Robin excitedly smiled, "Congratulations!"

Maxie nervously looked up at Spinelli, "We have to say hi don't we?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Double shit." Maxie looked away from him to Robin who was about to burst with excitement.

"Congratulations!" Robin stepped off the Nurse's station to hug her where Elizabeth followed after her to hug Spinelli, "Congratulations Spinelli!"

"Thank you," Spinelli smiled leaning out, "You want to see the pictures?" He shrugged his shoulders with excitement.

"Of course!" Elizabeth turned to look at them with him.

Robin pulled out of the hug, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Maxie was speechless, "We wanted to keep it a secret."

"From Mac?" Robin questioned where Spinelli quickly jerked his head to her, "YES."

Robin giggled, "Well you don't have to worry we're not going to tell Mac." She looked away from Spinelli and back to Maxie, "How have you been feeling?"

Elizabeth looked up at Spinelli with a soft smile, "Are you going to tell Jason?"

"Yeah," Spinelli sighed with happy ring to it, "When I get a chance. I want to tell him, I mean I have to tell him eventually because I have to actually quit now."

"He'll be happy for you," Elizabeth gently touched his shoulder, "He will be."

Spinelli nodded like he knew Jason would be, "I know, but…" He was about to hint how it would be insensitive of him when Nadine walked over, "Mr. Spinelli!"

From the moment he looked up at Nadine stepping off the nurse's station he caught a glimpse of Leyla's face, her expression of hurt, betrayal, but more over disappointment.

"I believe congratulations are in order?" Nadine asked for she was on the phone when Dr. Lee was talking with them.

"Yes," Elizabeth interrupted, "Spinelli is going to be a proud papa!"

Nadine looked up at him wanting to wish some words that Aunt Rayleen would say, but Spinelli's attention was on another who abruptly left the Nurse's station to the back of the room.

"Leyla!" He shouted where gave the pictures to Nadine, "Leyla!" He raced to the back where Maxie instantly broke out of her conversation with Robin to see Leyla turning the corner and Spinelli running after her.

"Leyla wait," he shouted grabbing her hand.

As she turned to him she shouted, "I'm going out with Matt tonight and you can't say anything about it."

He looked at her surprised, surprised that she was so willing to go out with that scum, "Fine I won't."

Maxie disappointedly nodded, "Why do I not feel like the only girl in the room when she's here."

Robin frowned, "I wouldn't read too much into it." She formed a smile, "Spinelli hurt a lot of other people besides you."

"I know," Maxie frustratingly looked away from her, "But I'm his girl friend, the one that's supposed to be having his child," she looked at the sonograms that Elizabeth and Nadine were having fun looking at.

"And he runs off with her."

"To make amends," Robin tried to correct her paranoid thoughts.

"Why do I always feel it's more?" She looked back at Robin, "Why?"

"Because you saw him in the act so you have reason to question him, don't tell yourself that he's not in love with you. He is about head over heals in to you. She's playing games with him because she feels after one kiss that she's entitled to him. She did the same with Patrick."

Leyla became disappointed, "You won't?"

"No," he raised his voice, "Because Leyla I kissed you once and I'm sorry that I hurt you, but don't turn this into some great romance that was ruined by Maxie."

He felt a burn across her face and honestly looked at her, "I deserve that."

"You deserve a lot more for playing with my heart," she pushed him away where he refused to let go of her hand.

"She'll never make you happy Spinelli." Leyla said as she turned to him, "She won't. She won't let herself be happy with you, she'll sabotage it, just like…"

"Don't you dare say us," he looked at her cautiously.

"There could have been an us!"

"No!" He yelled, "Because I'm not in love with you. I ran after you because I care about our friendship and it kills me that I messed it up."

"Spinelli," she looked away from him crossing her arms, "Do you know how cruel it is to kiss a person and not mean it?"

He nodded, he knew far too well, "Yes I do."

"Then why did you do it?" She angrily looked at him, "Even if maybe I didn't have any feelings for you, how can you just use me to get back at her."

"I wasn't thinking, I wasn't feeling well that day, I had a lot of bad feelings in me and…had a weak moment."

"Well," she pulled away from him, "I'll always think it was anything but that."

She proceeded down the hall where as soon as Spinelli turned around thinking how horrible he handled that, Matt was up in his face.

"What? One woman not enough?" Matt arrogantly looked at him, "You already have Maxie who loves you for some reason that I don't understand and now you've got to have a mistress on the side."

Spinelli huffed in disbelief. He wasn't about to get into this. He didn't have to explain himself to Matt or to anyone, but his Maximista.

"I don't have time for this, I have to get back to my girl friend," Spinelli walked passed him where as he entered the main floor.

Maxie's eyes drew to the back of the room where Robin turned to her attention, "See he was barely gone five minutes."

"He was still gone," she clenched her jaw.

"Don't let her win," Robin glared back at her, "If I had let her win I wouldn't be as happy as I am now."

Maxie annoyingly looked back at her knowing she was right, "I should just drop this then?"

"Yes," Robin instinctively nodded until she heard shouting.

Spinelli didn't understand why he turned to face Matt at the second he called his name because it ended in a harsh fist at his jaw.

Spinelli wiped his lip, "I can't believe I was going to apologize for our fight last time."

"Stay away from Leyla," Matt pointed.

"Or what?" Spinelli walked towards him pushing him, "What are you going to do?"

"This!" Matt threw a punch at him and before they knew it they were in a huge fistfight.

Maxie disbelievingly glanced at Robin, "And now they're fighting over her." Maxie left Robin's side ignoring Robin's pleas to stay.

Spinelli punched Matt sending him over a cart of medicine, "She's my friend and I'll see her and talk to her when I want." It was like an echo and he suddenly remembered that when he left, he left Maxie standing with Robin and Elizabeth and Nadine with the sonograms. _Shit._

"Maxie," Spinelli called, but she didn't look at him, she preceded right into the elevator.

_Double shit _and then he felt a double whammy as Matt hit him so hard that all he remembered was hitting the pavement before going unconscious.

-----

Spinelli smelled an odd odor and then quickly sprung up from whatever he was lying on.

"Calm down Spinelli," Elizabeth sweetly looked at him, "You were knocked unconscious about half an hour ago."

Spinelli flashed back and the remembered the hit that sent him down, "Maxie."

"Yeah she left kind of mad," Elizabeth grabbed a bag of ice from a tray, "Here."

"I messed up didn't I?" Spinelli sighed and Elizabeth somewhat nodded.

"Spinelli did you honestly think that it would end okay?" She honestly looked at him.

"I feel bad for the way I hurt Leyla, I was just trying to apologize.'

"And you thought that it wouldn't bother Maxie?" She looked at him to be brighter, "Pregnant women get insecure very easily. If you're running around women that they find to be intimidating…"

"I'm going to be in Snoopy's house."

"Precisely." She smirked where she turned to the tray, "Maxie left before Nadine and I could give these back to her." She gave him the two sonogram pictures.

"Aw thanks," Spinelli put the bag of ice down and looked at the photos.

"You'll be a great dad," she encouraged where he nodded, "So would Jason."

Elizabeth looked away from him getting up from the stool, "I have to get back."

"I'm sorry Elizabeth I didn't mean to upset you, but I think about telling Jason the news and I feel bad about it because he can't raise…" He didn't want to say Jake's name in case someone might be listening somewhere, "Stone cold special."

Elizabeth giggled at his nickname, "Jason would be happy for you. He loves you."

Spinelli nodded taking the photos and putting them in his pocket of his leather jacket, "I know."

Elizabeth sweetly eyed him for the way he was always thinking of Jason, "Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure?" He looked at up at her, "anything for the woman that hold's Stone Cold's heart."

She walked towards him, "I need someone to babysit Cameron and Jake."

"What time?" He asked getting off the bed.

"Five to nine," she hoped that he could help her out this one time.

"Okay."

"Really?" She smiled excitedly.

"Well I'm pretty sure Maxie is going to be mad at me for the rest of the night so any fun and games we had planned are shot to hell."

Elizabeth amusingly laughed, "It'll wear off. The important thing is to make her feel like she is the only woman you love and now that you've said your peace to Leyla, let Leyla come to you for rebuilding the friendship which I must say might be a bad idea, could stress Maxie out."

Spinelli nodded, "Yeah I guess I can see that. Man," he sighed, "I'm an idiot."

"All men are idiots." She humorously told him so he wouldn't feel like the only one.

"Not Jason," he looked at her and she stared at him having a hard time disagreeing.

"But Jason isn't perfect," she concluded, "All men and even women are kind of dumb at the whole love thing."

"Yeah," he smiled where he turned back to the bed grabbing his ice, "But I keep making these mistakes. I'm just afraid that Maxie is never going to let me learn from my mistakes and this is strike one."

"Strike one?" Elizabeth confusingly questioned as she motioned to the curtains in the trauma room.

Spinelli took the ice off his jaw, "Maxie isn't exactly thrilled to be pregnant."

Elizabeth slowly nodded, understanding, "Well it's not every girls dream to be pregnant at 22." She honestly told him before turning to pull the curtains back.

He nodded, "I know."

She saw his disappointment, "She just needs time Spinelli."

Spinelli doubtfully nodded even though he figure Elizabeth was probably right, "Well you will see the Jackal around five."

"Take it easy," she smiled gently patting his shoulder.

-------

An hour later Robin stood at the Nurse's station once again, looking over her patients' files when she saw Maxie emerge from the elevator.

"Hey," Robin softly smiled, "What are you doing back here?"

"Well," Maxie stopped in front of the counter, "I got all the way home and realized that I forgot to pick up my prescription."

"Aw, I see," Robin nodded, "Well Elizabeth is coming I'm sure she'll get that taken care of for you."

"Hello ladies!" Elizabeth hopped onto the station.

"Well don't you sound chipper," Robin smirked at her.

"I got a babysitter!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Oh?" Robin surprisingly looked at her.

"Yup," Elizabeth looked down at her paper work, "Spinelli."

"Oh," Robin looked up at Maxie, "Spinelli," she grinned before turning back at Elizabeth, "Speaking of Spinelli, how is he?"

Elizabeth glanced up at her playing with a pencil in her hand, "Well he doesn't have a concussion."

"Really?" Robin expressed enthused, "He hit the pavement pretty hard after that punch."

Elizabeth giggled, "Well fortunately for him all he's going to have is a bruised jaw and bump on the head."

"Poor guy," Robin frowned looking up at Maxie who was trying to convey that she wasn't worried about his wellbeing.

"I know," Elizabeth looked up at Maxie with just as saddened face Robin's, "And he's got two rambunctious little boys to look after tonight."

Robin glanced at Elizabeth, "How will he do it?"

"Okay you two can stop now," Maxie annoyingly eyed Robin, "You can stop beating around the bush Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sweetly frowned at her, "He's sorry Maxie."

"Well he should be sorry," Maxie crossed her arms.

Robin eyed her to be reasonable, "Maxie."

"Don't Maxie me," she annoyingly looked at her, "Spinelli knows I don't like her."

"You can't be the only woman in his life," Robin glanced down at the prescription paper on the counter and then handed it to Elizabeth, "Just like he would expect you to have male friends."

"But Leyla isn't just…"

"Yeah she is," Elizabeth interrupted where she paused and stepped off the nurse's station to stand in front of Maxie, "All he was doing is repairing a friendship that he feels terrible for breaking over a kiss that was really meant for you."

Elizabeth optimistically looked at her, "I'll be right back with this."

There was a moment of silence as Elizabeth left until Robin spoke up, "She's right."

Maxie glanced at her, "Elizabeth thinks she's right about everything."

"Hey," Robin softly spoke defending her friend, "Elizabeth is just trying to help and I happen to agree with her."

"How?" Maxie annoyingly slammed her hand on the counter, "Patrick fooled around with Leyla. How can you not see the two and think she's about to jump his bones?"

Robin smirked, but wasn't exactly humored by her vocabulary, "Five letter word called trust."

Maxie rolled her eyes, "Save the scrabble word for later Robin, this is serious."

"I am being serious," Robin seriously looked at her, "If you want this to work with Spinelli you have to trust him. Trust your feelings. Trust his. Trust that when he says you are the only woman for him, that he means it."

Maxie softly, but unnervingly looked at her at whom she knew was right.

Robin leaned closer over the counter clasping her hands together before smiling at her, "Do you really think if he didn't love you that he would have hit everyone up in town trying to plan the perfect 'forgive me' date."

Maxie slowly rolled her teary eyes up at Robin who continued, "He did. He asked Kate to get the dress, Sam to find the shoes, Jason to find those earrings, Mike to make the best grilled cheese sandwiches, Patrick to drive him to the house and me, to get the flowers."

Maxie hauntingly stared at Robin for the sweet words she spoke of Spinelli, she wised he wasn't such a wonderful surprise because it made her feel guilty whenever they weren't on the same page.

Robin touched her hand, "He's in this with you, the question is, are you?"

Maxie heard Elizabeth coming from behind and used that as an excuse not to answer her cousin, but Robin believed she already had her answer.

"Here you go," Elizabeth smiled while holding the bag out to her.

"Thanks," Maxie formed a small smile and then looked at Robin, "I'll see you later."

"Just keep in mind what I said," Robin insisted.

Maxie nodded before turning away from her and Elizabeth whom by now was standing on the Nurse's station again.

"Oh and if you change your mind Maxie about being mad at Spinelli, he'll be over at five," Elizabeth hinted with a evil smirk, "I'm sure Spinelli would appreciate the help...and the forgiveness."

"You won't trust me with your husband, but you'll trust me with your kids?" Maxie humorously looked at her trying to find the logic in that.

Elizabeth amusingly huffed, "I trust Sam don't I?" Elizabeth knew that Maxie was probably aware of all the schemes Sam had pulled over the year.

Maxie smiled awkwardly, "I'll think about it." She turned away from them into the elevator where as the doors closed she saw their happy faces. She leaned against the wall of the elevator after pushing the bottom floor button and curiously wanted to check what time it was. The second she motioned to her wrist the colors of her glamorous ring caught her eyes.

"_And whenever you feel like things aren't going to be okay, when you feel alone or we're apart because of business or some stupid fight…when you lose faith in us…You can look at this ring and remember all the memories we've made and all the times we've come back to each other."_

She looked up from the ring and decided that instead of sitting alone in her bedroom eating her Cheetos and ice cream, she'd rather be with him, teasing him with her odd craving at the moment.

-------------------------------

Author's Note: The Cheetos and Ice Cream craving came from a person, Jenna, on the opposite Attraction Spinelli fan site/forum. Don't expect the Leyla and Matt thing to go away. They won't be a central focus as Lulu and Johnny are, but expect those characters to every now and again stir up trouble.

Next Chapter: Maybe a Jaspin scene. Spinelli and Maxie babysit and talk about Jason, fatherhood and Johnny and Lulu. When they return home they get quite a surprise. Mac and Alexis in the kitchen on the table with a bottle of wine…Hmmm.

Hope you enjoyed this! Review! Thanks.


	25. Playhouse

Author's Note: So I don't know if this happened to others, but some people reviewed the last chapter and their reviews didn't post. If you are one of them, I'd still love a review especially since I wrote a lot of Spixie fluff in the last chapter. Anyway I don't care what the review contains, it can be good/bad, whatever, and feedback is just nice to have. This is a super cute chapter. Maxie and Spinelli learn more about each other, their insecurities along with how prepared and unprepared they are for this baby. I have posted a preview to this story, more like a five chapter preview; it's on Opposite Attraction under Crimson Editors, look for SpixieIsTrueLove2289 and then scroll to previews. I suggest reading it before the next chapter is posted, it's very telling. If you need the link, let me know, I'll give it to you. As always, I love you guys, I write for you so enjoy! Review! Thanks!

Chapter 25

**Playhouse**

"He's here!" Cameron shouted from the window, "Ma spaghetti's here!" He burst from the window seal to Elizabeth walking from the kitchen Jake in her arms, "Cum on!"

"Okay Cam!" Elizabeth giggled at her son' excitement, "Calm down."

The doorbell rang and Elizabeth quickly opened the door, "Spinelli!"

"I'm early," he looked down at his watch and saw that he was about twenty minutes early.

"That's okay, I still need to get ready," she motioned him inside, "Come in!"

He smiled walking through the doorway, "I see the house is back to its fine shape after little Cam's incident with matches."

"Oh yes," Elizabeth confidently nodded before looking down at Cameron, "And we don't play with matches do we?"

"Noooo," Cameron rolled his eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me Cam, do you want desert?" She innocently threatened and he quickly changed his behavior.

Elizabeth humorously glanced up at Spinelli, "If he starts acting out that'll get him under control."

"Alright," he glanced down at Cameron giving him a special wink.

"Anyway," Elizabeth looked to Jake, "I already fed him and there's a bottle in the fridge, there's Macaroni cooling on the stove for Cameron and you."

"Okay and bedtime?"

"NO BED TIME!" Cameron shouted.

Elizabeth pissingly looked at him because of his loudness, "Cam desert?"

He frowned, "so-rry."

"As I was about to say," Elizabeth looked up at Spinelli, "Jake will need to be in bed by seven or whenever he seems sleepy and Cameron is eight o' clock."

"Okay-do-key," Spinelli smiled before looking down to Jake, "Hey little guy."

Elizabeth looked down at Jake, "You ready to play with Mr. Spinelli?"

The silence made Elizabeth laugh, "I think we'll take that as a yes." She handed Jake over to Spinelli.

"Hey Jake," Spinelli slowly said with electrifying eyes on his role model's son.

Elizabeth watched to make sure he got a steady hold on him and then looked back at the kitchen, "If you need anything sholler."

Spinelli nodded while his attention was still focused on Jake, "We're going to have fun tonight, aren't we?" Jake grabbed hold of his fingers with a playful smile and Spinelli gasped in awe.

Sweetly smiling at the two, Elizabeth quietly left them to get to know each other and then walked into the kitchen.

"Spaghetti, game time!" Cameron shouted.

"Coming bud," Spinelli walked down into the living room with his attention on Jake still, "Little Stone Cold…"

Spinelli took a seat on the floor in front of the coffee table where he set Jake in front of him and then looked at the TV, "Ah Mario Kart!"

"Here," Cameron gave him the remote control, "U be lugi."

"Luigi?" Spinelli questioned even though he knew that's what he meant.

"That's what I said!" Cameron burst out with a playful annoyance.

"Okay, okay," he amusingly looked at him before looking down at Jake who was playfully hitting his hands on the control stick, "You want to play too?"

Jake smiled at him and Spinelli grinned back at him, "Well how about you watch this round?" He looked up at the TV and began to start a race with Cameron where five races later he heard Elizabeth quickly walking downstairs excited to get you, "Okay Spinelli have fun."

Spinelli looked away from the game to Elizabeth, "Yeah you too, tell Jason I said hi."

Elizabeth confusingly looked at him acting like she wasn't about to see him, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Spaghetti I'm beating you!" Cameron shouted where Spinelli looked up at the screen, "You hit me with a banana! Cam!"

Elizabeth giggled, "Don't let them push you around."

"Yeah right," Spinelli said as he concentrated on trying to catch up to Cameron's car.

"Famous last words," she lingered grabbing her purse and closing the door behind her.

As Spinelli intensely played the game while minded of little Jake sitting in front of him, Cameron wandered his eyes to the window after hearing Elizabeth's car seem to drive off. He pushed the start button pausing the race and left Spinelli's side to the window where he grimly smiled.

"Cam?" Spinelli looked away from Jake who was playing with the controller.

He watched the curly haired boy run back to him exclaiming, "She's gone!" And then turned the Game Cube off. Spinelli disappointedly looked up at him, "Why did you do that?"

"Go get ur cumpooter!" He pointed out the window to his car.

"Uh," Spinelli speechlessly looked at him.

"Go!" Cameron impatiently pouted.

"Cam," Spinelli chuckled.

"I want to hack!"

"Oh no," Spinelli instantly nodded negatively wondering how Cameron even knew such a word.

"Come on!" He whined, "U tau-ght Kristina!"

"Who told you that?"

"Its drue!" Cameron smiled in satisfaction that he got Spinelli to admit it.

Spinelli not amusingly stared at him before picking Jake up from the ground, "No," he looked Cameron straight in the eye where as he moved to put Jake down in his play pin Cameron threw a tantrum.

Spinelli set his hands on his hips not wanting to yell at the munchkin, "Hacking is for big boys."

Cameron crossed his arms, "I'm a big boy."

"Cam let's finish the game," he motioned to the game.

"NO!" Cameron shrieked.

"Yeeeesss," Spinelli walked towards him, "I said no."

"You just said yes," Cameron giggled as he walked backs.

"Wel-I meant, yes play the game, no as in I'm not going to teach you to hack because…You're mom would be very angry at me."

Cameron sneakily smiled, "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Spinelli stopped in his tracks wondering why they sweet little boy turned into Satan.

"Cameron do you want desert?" Spinelli pointed at the kitchen where Cameron giggled holding his stomach, "Ooh I'm scared!"

Spinelli stood there scratching his head, "Cameron come on."

"Teach me one ding," Cameron formed his hands into a prayer, "Prease Mr. Jackal!"

Spinelli thought long and hard about it when remembered or rather realized that Cameron was a kid, he probably didn't know much about the Internet or web pages and therefore could teach him something perfectly legal that he would believe is 'hacking'. Two could play at this game.

"Okay," Spinelli enthused with a smile, "I'll teach you one thing, but you can't tell anyone."

"I promise!!!" He hyped up.

"Alright," Spinelli smiled, "I'll be right back, watch your brother." Once Cameron assured him that he would, Spinelli walked outside to his car where he grabbed his trusty laptop from the passenger car seat. It wasn't until he walked back to the front door that he realized he had been duped as in tricked as in this was going to be one helluva night.

"Cameron open this door!"

"NO!"

"CAMERON!" Spinelli frantically turned the doorknob.

When Maxie drove up to Elizabeth's house it looked to her as if Spinelli had just arrived, but as she saw him angrily yelling at the little boy in the window, it became obvious what was going on.

Spinelli heard the car door close and turned to see that it was not Elizabeth, but his Maximista, which in some ways made everything worse. He quickly turned his head to the little slot on the door where mail passed through and whispered, "I'll give you all the cookies you want if let me in."

"Is that ur girl friend!"

"Maybe." Spinelli desperately looked at him not wanting to be embarrassed that he couldn't get control over the situation.

"Sucks for you!" Cameron closed there slot shut making Spinelli infuriated, "That's it young man!"

"Spinelli?" Maxie giggled as she walked up the porch.

He swiftly turned around acting like nothing was wrong, "Uh, hey, hi, how are you?"

"Good," she nodded at him with a humorous smile, "Is everything okay here?"

"Oh," Spinelli laughed, "Yeah," he pointed his thumb at the door, "Cameron and I are just playing this game."

"Oh really?" Maxie crossed her arms, "Elaborate."

Spinelli huffed in a wide speechless grin, "Well um it's like hide and go seek only…"

"Only he locked you out of the house," she smirked at him.

Spinelli embarrassingly looked away from her, "Yeah."

Maxie stood there trying not to laugh, but couldn't help it as she motioned forward to the rug he was standing on.

"Move."

"Maximista there is no negotiating with a five year old I'm afraid."

"Duh," she rolled her eyes at him, "But it's called a spare key." She pointed at the carpet.

Spinelli had this dumb look on his face and moved aside where Maxie lifted the rug up and low and behold was a bronze key.

"I, I was going to," he stuttered where she looked at him with a 'oh really' expression.

"The Jackal was going to look there next, eventually," he simply told her.

"Well it looks like I saved you three hours," she walked passed him to the door and unlocked it.

She pushed the door open as he stood the side of her, "After you babysitter."

He non-amusingly glared at her, "You are never going to let me forget this are you?"

"Nope," she smirked.

"That's what I thought," he walked passed her into the house where his eyes drew to Jake who was innocently sitting in his play pin playing with blocks. Looking away from little stone cold he set his laptop down and was just about to look back at Maxie when Cameron walked from the kitchen eating a brownie.

He stopped in his tracks completely terrified.

"Cameron," Spinelli sung his name in a troubling tone.

"He made me do it!" Cameron pointed at Jake before darting back into kitchen.

"Cameron!" Spinelli sprinted after him.

Cameron ran into the kitchen where he noticed a banana peel in the trash that he was heading towards. He evilly thought back to the Mario Kart game and wondered if he could deliver the same reaction. Placing the peel in the middle of the pathway between the stove, where the Macaroni was cooling in the pot, and a counter located across from it, Cameron hid behind the structure waiting for him to fall for his trap.

Maxie closed the door behind her and walked over to play pin where Jake looked up at her with a smile, "Your brother is quite the trouble maker, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She thought, considering Zander was always in the same boat.

Jake smiled, raising his hands up at her and talking playful gibberish.

"You want to see the Jackal in action?" She questioned as she leaned forward.

He giggled clapping his hands and Maxie smiled back, "So do I." But just as she was about to pick him up she heard commotion from the kitchen.

She leaned away from Jake, "Spinelli?"

When she didn't hear an answer she glanced back down at Jake, "I will be right back."

Cameron poke his head around the corner and saw Mr. Spinelli on the ground with Macaroni all over his face, "Spaghetti?" When he didn't respond, Cameron crawled on his knees to Spinelli's side where he shook him, "Mr. Spaghetti!" He grew worried "Wake up."

"Spinelli!" Maxie called as she entered the kitchen where she came to a quick stop at the sight of a startled Cameron.

"I kill him." Cameron began to well up tears in his eyes, "I didn't mean to." He looked down at Spinelli's non-moving body and pouted, "I'm so sorry Spaghetti."

In a flash Spinelli leaned his back up from the ground grabbing Cameron in his arms, "Rarrrr!"

Maxie giggled at the macaroni flying off his face as well as Cameron's screams of laugher at Spinelli's playfulness in a messy situation.

"Mr. Spaghetti!" Cameron hugged him, "Ur alive!"

Spinelli laughed, "with your dinner all over me!"

Cameron evilly giggled as they pulled out of the hug, "U look funny." He reached into Spinelli's hair and pulled out the Macaroni and then ate it, "Yummy!"

"Oh I'll show you yummy!" Spinelli tickled his chest while grabbing macaroni and getting Cameron just as messy.

She stood from the doorway of the kitchen watching the two laugh in a mess that only boys would find amusingly fun and quietly giggled leaning against the door frame.

Cameron broke free from his arms trying to escape on his knees where as Spinelli turned to grab his foot he saw Maxie and was paralyzed.

"I think you two boys need a bath," Maxie smiled at them before leaning off the doorframe and walking towards them.

By now Cameron stopped crawling and looked up at Maxie who bent down to him, "Why don't you go upstairs and Spinelli will meet you up there."

Cameron slowly nodded in agreement and left the kitchen where Maxie looked up at Spinelli and burst out laughing.

He pulled himself up to sitting position on the floor and pulled the macaroni out of his hair, "This is not funny."

"Oh sure it is." She covered her mouth with laughter thinking back to a few nights ago when he teased her about having to pee just before he was about to kiss her.

He stared at her and then burst out laughing, "Elizabeth is never going to hire me again."

"I don't know about that," she laughed with him while sweetly crossing her arms, "Cameron is having fun."

Spinelli pulled out a chunk of Macaroni, "Yeah too much." He looked up at her where he got the wicked idea to throw it at her.

"Don't you even think about it, I have to watch Jake now while you go clean up Macaroni kid." She rose up from her bent down position as he got up from the ground where he took his leather jacket off, "Well this is no good anymore."

"Guess we'll just have to go shopping," she excitedly smiled.

"Guess so," he playfully smiled back, "Lucky me."

"Hey," she non-amusingly glared at him.

"I'm just kidding Maximista, I'm sure shopping with you will not be painful at all," he sarcastically grinned.

She glared at him, "If you weren't so disgusting looking right now, I'd hit you."

"Ouch." Spinelli giggled looking away from her to the mess on the floor, "I wish she had a dog."

"I'll clean it up," she sweetly offered, but he nodded negatively, "No Cameron is cleaning this up."

She looked at him surprised where he looked at her as if he should, "He did the crime he does for the time."

She was actually impressed by his punishment skills, "Well now that is something I didn't expect out of you."

"Oh," he walked towards her, "You think I'm just all kid and no…Adult?" He asked as he stopped in front her.

"Well it's easier said then done," she crossed her arms.

"Oh you don't think I have the pa-ren-tal skills to force a child to take responsibility for his or her own actions?"

"Prove it." She teased him, completely loving the challenge she faced him with.

"Oh I'm going to prove it. Cameron is going to be an angel for the rest of the night."

Maxie burst out laughing, "Okay, you're on!"

Spinelli backed away from her to the doorway, "Be ready to be amazed Maximista, you are looking at a pro here."

"Coming from the guy who just got locked out of the house ten minutes ago?" She said walking towards him.

He evilly glared at her before glancing up at the stairs in the other room, "Cameron I'm coming." He looked back at her setting his hands on his hips, "Well the Jackal can't wait to see Maximista with little…Jake," he corrected himself realizing he almost said Stone Cold, "I can't wait to see you change a diaper."

"Hey," she pointed to herself, "I've been babysitting for years. I have a lot of experience in this stuff," she stopped in front him confidently smiling.

She watched him lean closer to her anticipating a kiss, "Spinelli you can kiss me after you clean up."

He cocked his head to the side, "Who says the Jackal was going to kiss you?"

"I'm just saying if the Jackal desires to kiss me, he has to loose the noodles and cheese look."

"Well for your information," he backed away from her into the living room where she walked towards him.

"I was only going to compliment that your experience should help you rise to your potential as a fantastic mother to our wee one," he smiled brilliantly as he got the stairs.

"Spinelli," she began to doubt his words with still an enthused happy tone, "Other peoples children are…"

"A great way to practice," he interrupted with a wink, "I'll be back down in a bit." He raced upstairs before she could object to his thinking.

She heard Jake fuss and turned her attention to him where she walked over to his play pin, "I know." She told him like she had not forgotten her promise to pick him up. As she slowly held him in her arms, she couldn't believe she was holding Jason Morgan's son. The almighty powerful Jason Morgan's off spring, wee one, Stone Cold Special, was playfully smiling at her, "Well I'm glad to see YOU can tolerate me."

Upstairs Spinelli had Cameron in the bathtub playing with rubber ducks as he washed his hair with Johnson's baby shampoo, "So Cam…"

"So Spaghetti," Cameron turned to him with the duck hopping on the edge of the tub.

"I'll make you a deal," Spinelli smiled at him while his hands grabbed a plastic cup in the tub and filled it up with water.

Spinelli heard Cameron playfully hum and took that as he was listening, "If you be a good boy for the rest of the night, I won't tell your mom about all the little tricks you pulled."

Cameron glanced up at him, "Do I still get a brownie?"

Spinelli huffed amusingly, "You already had a brownie."

"They're good!" Cameron excited, "Try one."

Spinelli saw this as another trick to take him off topic, "Close your eyes," he motioned so he could get the shampoo and conditioner in one soapy substance out of his eyes. He rinsed his hair a few times then looked at Cameron, "Help me clean up the mess down stairs and I'll sneak you a brownie before bed."

Cameron looked away from him playing with his duck, "Pizza for din?"

Spinelli looked at him in awe, "Cameron you're the one trouble, you don't get to make demands."

Cameron simply looked up at him, "Pizza or no deal."

Spinelli harshly stared at him; he couldn't believe he was reasoning with a kid, "Fine."

Cameron smiled sneakily, but Spinelli eyed him cautiously, "You better be an angel."

Cameron leaned his elbows on the edge of the tub, "I will!"

Spinelli eyed him with continued caution before getting up from his knees and turning to the mirror where noticed just how dirty he was, "Cam, pass me the shampoo." He took his shirt off revealing a white Hanes tank top underneath.

"Ooo!" Cameron excited, "Can I wash your hair!"

Spinelli turned to him, lowering himself to Cameron's eye level, "No."

"But, u have cheese in your hair!" He pointed with giggles.

"Give me that," Spinelli motioned to grab it from his hands when he squirted it perfectly in his hair.

Spinelli pouted closing his eyes, "Cameron."

"Oops," Cameron dropped the bottle where he saw the floating cup, "I can fix!" He splashed Spinelli.

"That didn't help," Spinelli slowly opened his eyes to see Cameron trying to remain serious.

"Cum here!" Cameron pulled on his cheeks and began washing his hair.

Spinelli was actually quite amused, "This is washing my hair."

Cameron nodded, "Mummy lets me wash hers."

"She does?" Spinelli asked as he saw his hair lather up with big bubbles.

"Close ur eyes," Cameron put his hand over Spinelli's forehead just as Spinelli had done to Cameron.

Leaning over the tub so that the water stay in, Spinelli softly smiled at the way Cameron acted. Cameron moved his hand and smiled, "No Mummy doesn't let me, but daddy does."

Spinelli motioned his hands to his hair to double check his hair for noodles, but surprisingly there was none, "Nice work." He looked up at Cameron who poured more water on his hair, "Okay Cam that's enough." He leaned away were Cameron continued pegging him with water, "OKAY!" Spinelli playfully grabbed him around the chest and set him on the carpet, "No more rub a dub tub time for you." He grabbed a Thomas the Choo Choo train towel and wrapped it around him, "Now go to your room and put your pajamas on."

Cameron ran out of the bathroom where Spinelli grabbed his shirt and Cameron's clothes and motioned to walk down stairs where he became caught up in the sight of Maxie making cute faces at Jake.

"You should give yourself more credit," he smiled from top of the stairs with Maxie shockingly looking at him for being caught red-handed enjoying Jake's presence.

She looked away from him, "Yeah well…"

"Well," he interrupted as he marched down the stairs, "You were having fun with him."

"Don't let it go to your head," she sarcastically sighed as she heard him step off the last of the stairs.

"Why?" He curiously questioned as he stepped forward to the couch.

"Because anyone can be good with this little guy," she tickled his little belly where as soon as Spinelli was looking over her shoulder she said, "If you know how to handle Jason you know how to handle his son."

His immediate silence made her glance up at him, "Spinelli…" She was going to tell him she wouldn't tell anyone, but he looked up at Jake.

"He's got wild hair," Spinelli ran his hand through it.

She looked at Jake as Spinelli affectionately rubbed his hair, "I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Who told you?" He asked still not looking at her.

"Does it matter?" She looked at him not wanting to get Lulu into any more trouble.

He glanced at her, "It is very important that no one knows who his real father is."

She slowly nodded, "I know. You don't have to tell me Spinelli, I know why it's important."

He stared at her for a few seconds and then kissed her cheek where he somberly walked away from the couch into the laundry room. He dropped the clothes in and then took his shorts off for he decided that since Cameron was in his pajamas it would be okay if he was in his, white tank top and black boxers. He put the clothes in motion to wash and then walked back into the living room where he hesitantly sat on the couch.

She was a little concerned by his silence, but figured she just needed to get him to laugh, "He blinks at me like Jason does."

That did it. Spinelli amusingly huffed, "He can't talk."

"Jason can't talk," she smiled widely at Jake while playing with his hands.

"There's a different between knowing and wanting," he looked up at her with a smirk to stop being so negative towards Jason.

"Yeah I can see," she looked away from Spinelli's smile to the little boy with no expression in front of her, "Like father like son."

Spinelli nodded ridiculously at her before leaning towards Jake, "Let me have him."

Maxie let go of him as Spinelli took him in his hands and turned Jake to face him. She watched as he slowly brought Jake towards him seeing his eyes grow a sweet bitterness.

"Heeey Jake," he smiled at the two year old, "You've gotten so biiiiiig."

She knew Spinelli was good with children. She had heard enough stories from Lulu and Sam and even Elizabeth. She knew he had that fatherly touch about him, but seeing him hold Jake who was very much still a baby, made her heart melt.

"I remember when I met you," he smiled, "Your Aunt Lulu and I managed to put aside our differences in who should claim you and we watched the cutest little baby in that entire nursery for as many hours as Epiphany would let us." Spinelli lit up at Jake widely smiled at him with giggles. He glanced up at Maxie not noticing her glistening eyes, "I forget how precious and perfect they are," he looked back at Jake who touch his cheeks, "Yes you are."

She wiped a tear from her eye where just as she was about to say something, Spinelli's phone rang. She leaned over to the coffee table and grabbed the phone where she saw the caller I.D., "It's Jason."

"Just leave it," he said while playfully looked at Jake.

"Are you sure?" She motioned to give it to him, "I can take him."

"No it's okay."

"Spinelli," she pushed, "It might be important."

He annoyingly rolled his eyes, "here" he held his hand out where as soon as she gave it to him he pushed the button to the end the call.

"You didn't have to do that," she honestly looked at him.

Looking at his phone while bouncing Jake on his lap he said, "I know how you feel about Jason so whatever he has to say can wait." He glanced up at her with a smile before tossing the phone back on the coffee table.

She looked away from the phone sliding, "You could have talked to him."

He looked back at Jake playing with his hands while making playful faces, "I don't want to talk to him."

"You don't want to tell him about our news?" She softly smiled like Jason would be happy for him.

"No I don't," he sighed.

"Why?" She curiously asked knowing Jason would be the first person he'd want to tell.

"Because I just don't!" He snapped, looking up at her. He could see his harsh voice had not only offended her, but hurt her bringing tears to her eyes.

"It's not that I don't want to tell him," he softly expressed, "I just don't want to do it over the phone." He shrugged his shoulders with a smile, "You can understand that right?"

"Ye-ah," she slowly nodded.

He could see she was still upset, "I'm sorry." He touched her hand, "I didn't mean to snap at you." He leaned closer to her so he could cup her cheek, "And I don't want you to think that I'm not happy about our news."

"Spinelli it's okay," she tried to tell him she wasn't bothered, "Really," she wiped her tears with a soft smile.

"Shh," he could hear the whine in her voice, "It's not okay." He pouted, "I have been a jerk to you today and I'm sorry." He stared at her sad eyes before leaning into peck her lips.

Cameron popped his head from behind the couch as one simple kiss turned into more, "Get a room."

Spinelli leaned away from her turning to Cameron, "There's the man of the hour with Chuggin Charlie pajamas."

Cameron leaned his chin on his hands on the couch, "I'm hungry Spaghetti."

"Right," Spinelli glanced at Maxie who suggested, "Cook him some Spaghetti."

He huffed not amused, "How about pizza?" He turned to Cameron who nodded knowing this was the plan, "Yeah!"

"Pizza it is," he turned away from Cameron, "I'm sure you would have preferred the spaghetti."

She nodded 'yes', "Pizza might be pushing it."

He nodded, "I'll get you some crackers," he smiled assuredly before giving Jake to her.

"Good idea," she looked at him standing from the couch, "Come on Cam…" He motioned to the boy, "Let's go clean up that mess."

Maxie glanced up at the two, "And try not to make another one."

"Can't promise you that," Spinelli said faintly as they left the room.

In the meantime, Maxie was looking at his phone where she began to notice that this wasn't the first time he had ignored Jason's calls. She had also noticed that he had ignored Lulu's phone calls as well, but had kept frequent tabs with Johnny. Then there were the numbers that weren't registered on his caller I.D. and had different area codes. She wondered what that was about, but knew it wasn't her place to ask. Her snooping around is something he most definitely wouldn't approve of and if it hadn't been for Jake's fussing she probably would have kept doing what she was doing until he caught her. When she walked into the kitchen a mere fifteen minutes after he and Cameron had left her Cameron was placing dishes into the washer while Spinelli was dragging a wet paper towel along the floor with his foot.

"It's called a mop?" She teased walking to fridge with Jake in her arms.

"It's called not necessary," he raised an eyebrow.

She looked away from him grabbing the sippy cup, "Slacker."

"Hey," he shrugged his shoulders, "I'm a hacker."

A light bulb turned on in Cameron's head, "Hey u say u were go'in to teach me to hack!"

Maxie quickly jerked her head, "He what?"

Cameron pointed at Spinelli, "Hack."

She looked up at Spinelli closing the refrigerator with her back where he squirmed, "No…No I…I didn't say that."

"Liar!" Cameron put his hands on his hips, "U promised!"

"No," Spinelli nodded with a laugh, "I did no such thing."

"Yea!" Cameron hopped off the stool, "U said one thing."

"One thing?" Maxie gave Jake the sippy cup while looking at Spinelli's frustrated face.

"What I meant," he looked at her where she gave him this look to elaborate, "Is W-E-B-B-R-O-W-S-I-N-G."

Maxie slowly nodded where Spinelli glanced down at Cameron who was slightly confused, "Which is like hacking."

"This is a trick," Cameron looked at him feeling like he was being played, "Mommy and dad S-P-E-L-L when they are trying to L-I-E to me."

Maxie humorously stared at him, Cameron was smarter than a lot of boys for his age and she could tell he had Spinelli wrapped around his little finger in aggravations.

"Me lie?" Spinelli laughed where he picked up the paper towel and throw it in the trash, "I'm telling the truth, right Maxie?"

Cameron looked at her where she goofily nodded, "Yup." She walked out of the kitchen where Spinelli stopped in front of Cameron who evilly smiled, "You are this close to going to bed early."

"Mr. Spaghetti, pizza."

Spinelli grimaced at him, "You know normally you wouldn't get away with this stuff."

Cameron crossed his arms, "Well normally my babysitters play with me, not girls."

Spinelli was taken back, who knew Elizabeth's cute little boy had such a backbone. _This kid is gonna be trouble when he grows up, _was all Spinelli was thinking.

He bent down to Cameron's level with polite charm to his face, "Well the Jackal apologizes if he has made you feel insignificant, but his girl friend isn't feeling well and needs me."

Cameron looked out the doorway to see Maxie lying down, he began to believe Mr. Spaghetti was right, "Waz wrong wid her?"

Spinelli could feel pride with in him growing, "Well she's going to have a have a baby."

Cameron's eyes shot open, "Now!" He looked back at Maxie who had her hand on her stomach and then rapidly looked back at Spinelli, putting his hand on Spin's shoulder, "It's going to be o-kay."

"Cameron," Spinelli silently laughed.

"Mr. Spaghetti," he took his hand off Spin's shoulder, "My mommy's a nurse." He grabbed the phone off the counter, "You call 911. I'll be right back!" He raced out of the room where Spinelli couldn't seem to call his name enough to calm him down.

Maxie opened her eyes knowing in the corner of her right eye Jake was sitting in his play pin, but in the corner of her left eye she saw Cameron run like lightening up the stairs.

"What's up with him?" She asked as Spinelli approached the doorway, "Is he getting ready to take notes on Hacking 101?"

"No," Spinelli amusingly smiled while crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe, "He's getting ready to play doctor."

She immediately pouted not amused by his smirk, "What did you say to him?"

"Oh," he leaned off the wall and walked towards her, "Just that the reason I haven't been paying much attention to him is because," he took a seat on the couch, "You are having a baby."

"Spinelli!" She threw a pillow at him.

"He jumped to the wrong conclusion, what was I supposed to say?" He honestly thought it was cute.

"Gee," she crossed her arms, "I don't know maybe something like I'm not having a baby for about seven months."

"Well," he whined, "He got so excited."

She nodded her head while pouting a smile knowing deep down that he thought this was adorable, "We are not putting on Oscar worthy performances here."

Spinelli could see at the top of the stairs Cameron with a white jacket on and black doctor bag, "Oh come on." He glanced down at her, "It'll be fun." He slid off the couch and knelt beside her before looking at Cameron jumping of the last steps, "Whoa there Dr. Cameron."

"Sorry Spaghetti!" Cameron ran around the couch, "But there's no time!"

"No time!" Spinelli dramatically looked at Maxie, "What will we do?"

Maxie was having such a hard time keeping herself from laughing that she couldn't say anything to him.

"Mr. Spaghetti!" Cameron shouted before snapping his fingers in front of his eyes, "It's okay! I'm a doctor."

"Phew," Spinelli looked at him relieved, "I thought I was going to have to deliver this baby on my own."

"No," Cameron reached into his bag where he took out plastic gloves.

Spinelli glanced at Maxie who thought it was cute that he had all this stuff, she was definitely going to have to tell this to Robin.

"What is your name?" Cameron looked at her where she smiled away from Spinelli, "Maxie."

"Maxie!" Cameron hollered, "My grandma has a dog name Maxie!"

Maxie nodded like 'oh really'.

"You want to see a picture of her?!"

Maxie oddly looked at his way of wanting to switch activities as if he forgot he was just about to deliver a 'baby'.

Spinelli looked up at Cameron, "I thought we had no time?"

"Oh ya!" Cameron giggled, "Tank you for remindin' me!" He looked into his bag grabbing his scrub cap.

Spinelli glanced down at Maxie, "Are you feeling okay darling?" Spinelli squeezed her hand, "Are you pain?"

"Eh…" Was all she could say for she really wanted to laugh at how well Spinelli played along.

"Doctor," Spinelli looked up at Cameron, "She needs something for the pain."

"Oh! Don't worry! I know!" Cameron darted from the couch into the kitchen.

Spinelli laughed looking back at her, "You're doing great, but I think you could expand a little more on the pain," he motioned with his hand, "A simple 'Eh' is not going to cut it, not even by Dillon's standards of acting."

She touched his shoulder, "Well I promise you when I'm really in labor it will be anything but 'Eh' and if Dillon were here directing all of this a real baby would actually look as if it came out me."

"Oh that's right," Spinelli looked around.

"What are you looking for?"

Spinelli let go of her hand, "We need a baby" he looked back at her, "And since ours is the size of a blueberry, we're going to need a substitution," he saw right near the door was a baby blue elephant.

He let go of her hand and quickly grabbed the plush stuff animal and the returned to her side where she looked at him jokingly, "An elephant?"

He shrugged his shoulders like they had no other choice, "There aren't exactly any dolls around here."

"Good point," she grabbed the animal, "I'm sure by the time I have this baby I'll look like an elephant."

"I'm coming!" Cameron shouted from the kitchen.

She pushed it under her shirt where he kissed the side of her head whispering, "And you'll never be more prettier."

Cameron walked around the couch with a can of Ginger Ale and a plate of crackers when he stopped at the bump that was visible now. Maxie and Spinelli glanced at each other knowing Cameron knew just a few minutes ago that did not exist, "Uh…This should make you feel betta." Cameron set the soda on the table and then the plate where Spinelli motioned to grab a cracker, "That's not for you bone head!"

"Yeah bonehead," Maxie enthused, "Give me that."

Cameron handed her a cracker and then turned to Spinelli who said, "Are you sure she should be eating in her condition?" He wandered his eyes where Cameron followed and paused.

"Mr. Spaghetti, I need to speak with you." He turned away from them.

Spinelli smirked at Maxie, "Don't have the baby without me honey."

"I'll try not to, but the pain is overwhelming," she sarcastically looked at him before biting in the cracker.

He turned to Cameron, "Hey squirt what's wrong?"

Cameron nervously looked at him, "Did you call my mummy?"

Spinelli lied of course, "She's in surgery."

"Oh," Cameron looked away from Spinelli where it was obvious Cameron actually believed this was somewhat real.

"It's okay I'll help you," Spinelli grinned where as Cameron was still unsure of himself.

"But I've never done this before," he whispered.

"Don't worry, I've delivered a baby before," Spinelli winked.

Maxie heard that, "You have?

Spinelli turned to her, "Adventure with Stone Cold."

Maxie was taken back, Spinelli had more experience with this stuff than she thought and she wanted to know that story which meant Dr. Playhouse needed to come to an end.

She tried not to giggle at how cheesy this was going to sound, "Spinelli…Ow…"

He smirked at her and then back at Cameron, "Come on, do this like you normally would."

They walked back over to Maxie who was patiently waiting, "Everything okay?"

"Yup," Spinelli grinned, "Everything is fine." He grabbed her hand with a wink and turned to Cameron, "So why don't you take a peek…" He pointed at the shirt.

Cameron hesitantly took a peek and then glanced up at them, "U ready?"

Maxie nodded, "Count on three?"

Cameron slowly nodded, "one," he grabbed an elephant's paw, "two," he slowly pulled it, "three!" he whipped it out where he instantly tilted his head off to the side wondering what the hell just happened.

"It's an elephant honey!" Spinelli kissed Maxie's forehead, "We have a baby boy elephant."

"Just what Mac wants in the backyard," she quietly joked until they heard Cameron's muttering, "Sumthin's not right here."

Spinelli and Maxie looked up him with guilty looks on their faces as Cameron began processing the obscurity of this. He looked at the elephant and then glanced at Jake, "Weirdest baby I've ever seen."

He looked up at them where his eyes focused beyond them on a ledge near the door, "Heeeeeey." He glanced down at them, "This used to be over there!" He pointed while his eyes scolded them.

"Don't look at me," Maxie pointed to herself, "It was him."

"Spaghetti!" He threw the stuff animal.

Spinelli caught the animal, "I tried to tell you."

Cameron turned from him removing his scrub cap, "You played me."

Spinelli pouted, "Cam I'm sorry, but what I meant to say is that in a few months she'll be having a baby."

Cameron snapped at him, "Why didn't u say that! U made me look stupid…" He leaned towards Spinelli, "And in front of a girl!" Cameron cursed like he was incredibly embarrassed.

Maxie chuckled, "Cam," she softly uttered taking his small hand, "I was really honored that you wanted to help."

Cameron looked up at her, "Re-ally?"

Maxie nodded, "Yes and I was very impressed."

Cameron rolled his eyes, "Yeah right."

"Really," Maxie smiled, "I was and in a few months if I ever find myself in need of a young handsome doctor such as yourself to deliver my baby, you'll be the first to know."

Cameron looked up Spinelli wanting to know if he agreed, "Is that a deal Dr. Cameron Webber?" Spinelli held out his hand where Cameron hesitantly shook it, "Deal but we should call my mommy if that happens cause," he pointed to himself, "I'm only," he held up his hand, "Five years old."

Maxie giggled at how silly kids could be, "You bet." She laughed leaning up from the couch to tickle him.

_Ding dong._

"Pizza!" Cameron shouted turning to Spinelli, "Mula!"

"Mula," Spinelli grunted as he reached for his wallet while as he grabbed two twenties he glanced out the window to make sure it was the Pizza guy.

"Here," he handed it to Cameron, "Tell him to keep the change."

Spinelli rolled his eyes as Cameron rushed to the door, "Pizza makes everything better." He looked at Maxie who said, "That's usually how it is."

Spinelli glanced up at the door where Cameron couldn't grab the box fast enough, "Hey to you!"

"Thanks kid," the pizza guy smiled while humored by his lab coat.

"Keep the change!" Cameron shut the door where he turned to open it.

"No," Spinelli got up from his knees, "Kitchen."

"Fine!" Cameron walked into the kitchen where Spinelli stood there with his hands on hips, "Two hours left and then he can go to bed."

"Aw," Maxie stood up from the couch wrapping her arms around his waist, "Tired already?"

He touched her hand on his chest and turned to her, "All I want is you, my clothes, and quietness."

She smiled leaning in, "Well I'm here, I think you look fine in the clothes your wearing and if I wasn't talking, it would be quiet."

"Hmm," he drew in closer to her mouth that was no longer moving, "Now that's more like it." He pressed his lips against hers when his cell phone rang.

They both disappointedly gasped, leaning away from each other where Spinelli grabbed his phone, "It's Johnny."

She nodded knowing he had to answer it and he did, "Heey…Johnny? I can't hear you?" He pushed his ear, "Johnny? Who?" Spinelli turned away from Maxie to his laptop on the coffee table.

"Johnny?" He called once more before the line went dead, "Damn it." He bent down o his laptop trying to get it ready for when the phone rang again.

"What? What is it?" Maxie looked at him where before he could even try to explain the scrambled conversation his phone rang again.

"John," Spinelli spoke where he smiled at the better reception, "What happened?"

She watched as Spinelli began opening a search engine for people, "What's the name of the guy she's with?" She heard him asked where she noticed his movement stall.

"Hang on John," he put his hand over the phone, "Maxie can you go an check on Cameron?"

She looked at him like she'd rather not, but the desperateness in his 'please' convinced her to do so.

"Thank you," he smiled at her before turning back to his computer to examine the three letters he had typed in before coming to his realization, _Rob._

Maxie left the room, but didn't leave the room. She stood in the kitchen, but her ears were not listening to the ramblings of Cameron, but instead to the raised concerned voice of Spinelli.

"That can't be the guy she's with," Spinelli negatively nodded as he finished typing the name.

"You know why Johnny?" Spinelli quietly yelled, "Because he just can't be!" He pushed the enter button and searched to see if it was possible, if the man he knew that name by, was alive.

She heard a further agitated voice, "Yes Johnny, he is dangerous!" Her thoughts immediately ran to Lulu.

"But it's more than that, he's…" She heard him pause where she hid from the doorway, it was as if he was about to say something he didn't want to her to hear more than anything else he's mentioned.

Spinelli looked at the picture, the bushy dirty blonde haired Aussie boy, "He's supposed to be dead John." He looked up at the doorway to see Cameron and Maxie laughing which brought him relief.

She looked away from Cameron to Spinelli whom she knew by the baby monitor hidden on the table that he was no longer looking at them. How if he knew she could hear him he would have stopped talking a long time ago.

"John I don't know! It doesn't make any sense," he scarcely shouted into the phone before his voice became shaky, "But I have a feeling that their encounter…is anything but coincidence."

She looked at Cameron who was making a mess on his face and gave him a napkin, "I'll be right back," she tried to smile like nothing was bothering her.

"Whatever you do don't approach her angry," Spinelli remembered the fallout of Logan's deal. "Don't be hostile, be kind, be the man that she met when found out about Logan and…" He paused as he noticed Maxie and knew she had heard his words, "Anyway, find whatever excuse you can to bring her home. Lie to her if you have to."

She watched as he politely smiled at her to be no more than a few more minutes and tried to sit on the couch as if she had not just been eavesdropping.

He scanning the information of locations of him and Lulu, hoping he could give Johnny more clues as to how to track her.

"John she's in Halifax now," he scanned the information further, "Looks like a Holiday Inn…" He tried to pull up engines for both their locations and pinpoint how long it would take for Johnny to find her, "She checked in about an hour ago, room number 43, she's paid through at least Friday so if you can get there by then, you'll find her. Good luck let me know if you need anything else." He said goodbye and then looked up at Maxie, "Cameron okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded with a giggle, "Looks like he's about to make another mess."

Spinelli chuckled closing his laptop, "Typical." He set his phone on top of his laptop where the minute he looked up at her, she said with obvious stress, "Is Lulu in danger?"

"No," he calmly whined walking over to her where he joined her on the couch "As much as I hate to talk about Lulu…"

She quickly interrupted as he tried to touch her hand, "Spinelli you should talk to her."

He ignored her words, "Lulu has run off with a guy she doesn't know, but as always appears to be more trouble than she needs."

"If you talked to her she would come back," Maxie honestly looked at him touching his hands, "I know she would."

He pouted at her not wanting to hear her defend Lulu, "She's not in my life anymore."

"Come on," she cupped his cheek, "I know you still care about her…" She looked into his eyes, "Otherwise you wouldn't be working so hard to find her," she glanced at her computer.

He removed her hand from his cheek, "I'm doing Johnny a favor, but apart from that, Lulu is the reason I almost lost you." He negatively nodded hating the fact that he was wasting his breath on talking about her, "It's not something you forgive and forget."

"But if I can get passed it…"

"That's great for you," he smiled, "Really. If you can be friends with Lulu, I'm happy for."

"I had fun when the four of us hung out at that concert, can't we be like that again?"

He negatively nodded no, "Lulu has to earn her trust back, you nor Johnny nor anyone else can do it for her."

"Fine," she annoyingly looked away from him, "I just think that you and Lulu should make up."

He stood up from the couch, "And I think that you should put less effort into telling me who I should and shouldn't be friends with and put more effort into those crackers and Ginger-Ale."

She looked up at him completely taken off guard by his words as if she was trying to control his life, which was the least of what she was trying to do, "Spinelli..."

He walked away from her where just as he was about to enter the kitchen he said, "I don't tell you to stop being friends with Matt Hunter."

"Matt and I aren't friends."

He looked at her doubtful, setting his hands on his hips, "Not that I care or anything if you two are, that's fine, but I remember what I saw and you two certainly weren't strangers."

She shockingly looked at him completely taken off guard more than before, "Spinelli." She got up from the couch following him into the kitchen, "Are you serious?"

"Maximista," he turned to her as he backed away to the table, "Just don't deny it."

"Spinelli," she stopped at the center counter, "Matt and I are not friends. We are friendly with one another, but we are not friends."

"Maxie you can't use the same root of a word to say you are and are not something," he honestly looked at her before picking up a slice of pizza and putting it on a plate.

She crossed her arms not amused by his insult of her knowledge of grammar, "I understand how it looked that day, but you were out of control and I was trying to…"

"To deal with me like I had a condition, like there was something wrong with me?" He inferred while coming off as a jerk.

She walked towards him, "There WAS something wrong with you, you were suffering from a brain infection and a…"

"Shattered shoulder thanks to him," he honestly looked at her not to forget that just as he bit into his pizza.

"And that's why he and I will never be friends because he knew what I knew and he chose to be a J-E-R-K to you."

"Jerk," Cameron giggled, "You saiiiiid jerk."

"Cameron," Spinelli looked at him to eat his pizza, "Maxie," he looked back at her, "I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, I trust you, but I don't want us keeping secrets of who we're friends with."

"And I'm telling you that I don't have a secret friendship with Matt, but if I ever get one, you'll know."

"And if Leyla and I are ever friends again, you'll know too."

"Good," she pranced back into living room hoping as much as him that their relationships with others, even if they were strictly platonic, would never become romantic.

Spinelli lost his appetite and threw his food in the trash where he looked at Cameron, "You done?"

He nodded with a smile where Spinelli chuckled grabbing the napkin, "You are just one mess after another." He wiped the sauce off his mouth where Cameron smiled brightly, "YuP!"

"Okay bud," he ran his hand over Cameron's curly hair.

"Now what?" Cameron tapped his fingers along the table.

"Well," Spinelli took the paper plate and threw it in the trash, "You have about…" He looked down at his watch as he took the pizza box and put it in the refrigerator, "An hour and a half before you have to go to sleep so…"

"Movie time?" Cameron softly asked with a smile.

Spinelli smiled, "I think so."

"Yeeeeaaaah!" Cameron shouted getting up from the stool where Spinelli swooped him up in his arms and the two came screaming into the living room.

"What a riot," Maxie looked up from her magazine, "What's next? Coloring books or do you not have the artsy genes?"

Spinelli was slightly humored by Maxie's sarcastic tongue, obviously still a little stung from their not exactly argument ten minutes ago. "Nope, a movie."

"Nemo!" Cameron pointed at the DVD collection.

"Aw fishes," Spinelli walked to the TV, "You know what they say Cam?" He looked back at him as his fingers took the DVD out.

"What?!" Cameron shouted.

"They say whenever your heart gets broken," he put the DVD in and pressed play, "Never falter because there always plenty more fish in the sea." He softly smiled at Cam while his eyes stared at Maxie's and he could see the insecurity in hers at his mention of the quote.

Jake made a fussing noise from his play pin and it distracted their focus on each other, "Oh Jake," Spinelli picked him up, "What's wrong buddy?"

Jake rubbed his eyes before whining into a little cry, "Aw…" Maxie softened putting her magazine down and walk towards Spinelli, "Someone's ready for bed time."

"And a changing," Spinelli looked up at her, "You want to keep your end of the bargain or shall I put him down?"

"I'll do it," she smiled at him not understanding how she and Spinelli could be on and off at each other every half an hour yet the children somehow brought them back together.

"Are you sure? You sure the smell isn't going to bother you…" He meant trigger her morning sickness, but Maxie of course nodded no, "Let's hope it doesn't." She motioned her hands and Spinelli slowly gave Jake to her, "Goodnight buddy."

Maxie quietly shushed Jake's cries, "Shh Jake," she gently stroke his blonde hair as he rested his hand on her chest.

Spinelli watched as she walked upstairs with him and softly smiled, he couldn't wait for a day where she would be walking upstairs with their _daughter_ he consciously told himself wondering when that changed.

"Spaghetti," Cameron sighed at the lack of attention on him.

"Sorry," Spinelli walked towards him turning the lights off and then joined him on the couch, "Here." Spinelli pulled him closer to him where the two laid log style on the couch as the movie started.

Upstairs, Maxie had found herself sitting in a rocking chair gently rubbing Jake's back as he became more tired. She had changed him, put pajamas on and knew that he was still some time away before really falling asleep. Secretly though, she wanted to hold Jake longer, she wanted to rock him to sleep, she wanted to test out her motherly abilities and see if this was a life she could fall in love with. It was.

"You are a very special boy Jake," was all she could say for he was the child that had a special place in many peoples hearts. She began to wonder what place he held in Spinelli's heart. Somehow watching him earlier had communicated to her that it was a bond that he could never break, a bond that he would forever keep with him, a bond that he would honor when the passing came of Jason Morgan.

"Sweet dreams," she softly said as she put him down in his crib.

Walking downstairs she knew by instant silence in a rather comical movie that the two were asleep. He looked exhausted and more adorable than ever. She longed for the moment they could go back to her bed and fall asleep next to each other.

"Hello?" Elizabeth's voice rang through where she saw Maxie standing at the bottom of the stairs with a look of shush to her.

Elizabeth nodded, gently closing the door, where she motioned Maxie to come with her into the kitchen to review the night.

"How was it?" She set her purse on the counter.

"They had fun, too much perhaps." She giggled and Elizabeth smirked at her, "Did you have fun?"

Maxie doubtingly looked at her, "Well besides your son playing doctor on me and delivering a elephant stuff animal from me, it was fun."

Elizabeth softly chuckled, "Cameron loves playing doctor. Took Lucky's liver out the other day," she winked before turning to see kitchen was literally spotless.

"Now I know I didn't leave here with a clean kitchen."

"Spinelli cleaned it, he and Cam got into a food fight."

"That explains Spinelli in a tank top and boxers," she wandered her eyes to groggy man entering the kitchen, "Hello Maternal One," he yawned while scratching his head.

"Hello Spinelli."

Spinelli tried to talk, but kept yawning, "Sorry, Cam's upstairs and there's pizza in the fridge, he was a good boy, Jake is just like Stone Cold and," he looked down noticing his attire, "I think I'll go get my clothes back on."

"Sounds like a plan," she softly smiled as he disappeared into the laundry room.

Maxie looked away from Spinelli, "How was Jakes?"

"Oh," Elizabeth smiled, "Wasn't the same without Robin."

Maxie huffed humorously, "Well I'm glad you got to have a night out."

"Me too," Elizabeth yawned where she looked at the clock, it was only nine, "Gosh I'm old, not even ten yet and I'm exhausted."

"I know the feeling," Spinelli said as he pulled his polo shirt on and carried his leather jacket.

"Thank you guys," Elizabeth said not knowing if she had already thanked them.

"No problem," Maxie looked up at Spinelli where she really noticed his bruised cheek, "Spinelli your cheek."

"Eh," he closed his eyes, "The Jackal's cheek is the least of his problems."

Maxie put her hand on his chest, "Come on sleepy head I'll drive you home and we'll pick your car up here in the morning."

"Fine by me," Elizabeth smiled, "Good night." She led them to the door where Maxie grabbed his laptop, cell phone and wallet.

"Good night Maternal something," Spinelli said walking into the door believing it was already opened.

"Ow," he sighed as his hands opened the door and he heard giggles, "Not funny fair ladies."

"Let's go Grumpy Jackal," Maxie gently pushed him out where Elizabeth said her goodbyes and they walked out to the car.

"Thank you for helping," Spinelli said as he felt himself about to pass out any minute.

"You're welcome," she opened the car door for him after putting his things in the back.

"I love you," he softly uttered as she helped in the car.

"Enough to take me on a shopping spree this week and spend all your money…"

"Uh huh," he fell his face forward on the dashboard.

She closed the car door, "Moron," she chuckled where as soon as she got into the car she heard him say, "Girl. I want a girl Maxie."

"You won't say that tomorrow," she humorously looked at his drained self.

He rose his hand up, his index finger pointing up, "I beg to differ."

* * *

Aw that was cute. So you may be wondering why Matt and Leyla keep coming up when I've said they won't be anything romantic going on. The whole point of Matt and Leyla is to exploit the fact that Spinelli and Maxie are young and have potentially a lot of people they could be with, they have options, they should be young bachelors/ettes and therefore shouldn't be settling down so quickly. I don't have anything planned for them than just Matt and Leyla longing for a chance with the people they have an attraction for.

Next Chapter: Everyone puts their two cents in. Remember Stacy? She's baaaack. Mac and Alexis have a chat with Spixie…You know how that will go. Maxie spills the news to Jason after Spinelli spills the news to some important people in fashion, which could harm Maxie's career. Fasten your seat belts its going to be a bumpy couple of nights!

Thanks for reading and review please!


	26. What to expect when your expecting

Chapter 26

**What to expect when you're expecting**

It was the morning after their glorious, but tiresome night of babysitting. She stood at her bed, holding a cup of coffee, not for her, but for Spinelli whenever he would decide to wake up. He looked cute, his hands tugged on the pillow while his soft face peacefully rest in silence. He seemed happier, happier than he had been in weeks. She wished she could pin it on the fact that he finally had his health back, but she knew it was because of her…and the baby and that left her unsettled.

"Maximista is staring at the Jackal he presumes?" He opened one eye.

She embarrassingly smiled that she had been caught, "Just observing."

"Hmmm," he playfully grunted, reaching out for her, "Perhaps you can observe from over here?"

She never thought her Spinelli could be playful and loving as he was in this moment when looking at her. All the reasons why she shouldn't do this, why she shouldn't be a mother, why she shouldn't be with him, fluttered from her mind, leaving her heart that wanted to embrace the greatest gift she had ever been given.

"I think I can do that," she set the cup on her nightstand and then put her hand in his where he pulled her into a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he slowly lied back on the pillows and the two pleasantly smiled for this blissful simplistic moment that never seemed to present itself until now.

She felt ticklish as his lips escaped hers and caressed to her cheeks and down her neck and chest, "Spinelli…"

"Shh," he glanced up at her with a wide grin that electrified his current emotions for her.

She loved this, every second of this, of that look, of that smile, of that warmth she could feel sitting just in front of him. In her right mind there was nothing better than to have a man who adored her as much as he did. It was so strong that she couldn't keep herself from expressing the feelings that were no kidding, glowing within her.

"I love you Spinelli," she told him as if it was the first time, "I love you so much," she whined with a pause as she felt tears in her throat as well as her eyes, "I…I'm beginning to think we can do this."

He knew she was scared, scared about a lot of things, but if she had him, to protect her, to take care of her, to love her, that she could be okay that the fear would go away.

"We," he smiled enthusing, "Can do anything together." He kissed her hands, giving her the confidence she needed to becoming this closer to having everything she ever wanted even if it wasn't everything she wanted now at 21.

He ran his hand through her silky blonde hair, "You let me take care of everything okay?" He honestly looked at her where she nodded and they embraced in a hug, "Starting with a trip to the mall." Her grip tightened around him and he knew that would lift their spirits up, a little shopping.

Since Spinelli's Aston Martin was still at Elizabeth's house, Mac offered to drive them over there.

"So, what are you guys up to today?" He looked up at them in the rear view mirror, "Anything fun?"

Maxie oddly looked at her father, "Shopping."

"And Spinelli?" He glanced his eyes over to him, assuming he had something else to do, "Jason?"

"Uh no sir," Spinelli seriously looked at him, wanting to leave Jason out of the conversation, "I'm shopping too."

Mac amusingly smiled, "God help you."

"Thanks I'm gonna need it," Spinelli joked.

Maxie annoyingly crossed her arms with playful anger, "I don't know what you guys are talking about, you two have never gone shopping with me."

Mac pulled up in front of Elizabeth's house, "And I want to keep it like that."

"Whatever!" Maxie got out of the car where Spinelli amusingly huffed, "Thanks Mac."

"Thank me by being back after ten tonight."

"Big night?" Spinelli raised an eyebrow.

"I plead the fifth," Mac joked and Spinelli laughed, "Maybe we'll just get a hotel room."

"I don't want to know, I don't want to know," Mac turned away from him where Spinelli slowly got out of the car chuckling.

When she heard her father's car drive off she turned to Spinelli who was still watching Mac excel down the street, "Look who gave our baby its first stuff animal?" She revealed the baby blue elephant.

"Well I still think he was a monster last night," Spinelli jokingly looked at her as she admired the baby blue elephant.

"You're just mad that he outsmarted you." She formed an optimistic smile in the corner of her mouth.

He stubbornly looked at her, "The jackal can not be outsmarted."

"Oh he can't?" She asked knowing there had been many times she had outsmarted him.

"Not by five year olds," he walked towards her, "Because if a five year old can outsmart me than I have no chance against our wee one."

She giggled, "Well the two of us will just have to put up some firewalls…"

"And hope he…"

"Or she," she teasingly nodded.

"Or she," he noted before continuing, "Doesn't use any Trojans."

She humorously laughed at his mind, "You are so giving our child the TALK."

"Me?" He pointed to himself where she silently nodded with a goofy smile and he nodded in objection, "I think Mac should give the talk."

"Oh yeah cause it worked wonders on me," she sarcastically looked at him where he couldn't argue back. "Well thankfully we have a good sixteen years before we have to think about the birds and the bees."

"Well if she's anything like me we might have to do that sooner," she teased and he looked at her amusingly appalled, "Well I'm not letting her near any boys till she's at least thirty."

She laughed at his ridiculousness, "No," she giggled, "You are not being over protective like Mac."

"He's not overprotective now," he giggled under his breath.

"What are you laughing about now?" Maxie looked at him knowing there was an inside joke somewhere.

He smirked as he enclosed on the space between them, "Your dad thinks we'll be staying at the Metro Court tonight…"

"Oh?" She looked at him wondering who gave him that idea.

She watched him stop in front of her and wrap his hand around her waist, slightly pushing her forward, where she placed her hands on his chest, "And doing what may I ask?"

"Things," he kissed her cheek, "Things he doesn't," he kissed her neck, "Want to know about," he gazed up at her with an evil smile.

"Damian Spinelli," she eyed him like he was being a bad boy.

"Maxie Jones," he intriguingly smiled, "That is if she's up to it?"

"Oh I'll be up to it," she smiled like she could definitely take on the challenge, "Your tired pregnant girlfriend will find a way to be up for it." She pulled him into a kiss where he couldn't resist her.

"Spinelli!" Maxie tried to grab the Borders bookstore bag from Spinelli's hand as they walked down the hall in the mall.

"Maximista," he innocently pulled the bag away from her where he stopped in front of her placing his hands behind his back, "Good things come to those who wait."

"And you know," she playfully looked into his eyes, "I don't like to wait," she moved her hands to around his back.

"I know indeed," he widely grinned before glancing down to her Victoria Secret bag, "But it's not like you've told the Jackal what garment you decided to buy for tonight's evening."

"It's a surprise!"

"And so is this!" He exclaimed before kissing her neck, "Come on," he placed his hand on her back and then looked at the store they were in front of.

She smiled, but stood in place, "I'll meet you in there."

"What?" He looked back at her trying to hold onto her hand.

"I have to go to the little girls room."

"Again," he rolled his eyes.

She giggled, "Don't make fun of me."

He cracked a giggle, "The jackal would never make fun of his Maximista, but can't you just wait? Those women," he looked at the store, "They're vicious…" He looked back at her playfully frightened, "I won't survive for one minute."

"Well I guess I better hurry then," she pulled from his grip leaving his side as he called her name in annoyance.

"Go!" She motioned and he grunted, but strolled into the store.

"Can I help you?" A sales lady asked as Spinelli walked into the same clothing store he had a month ago.

"Uh yeah," he reached for his wallet and took out a little note, "I need another leather jacket like this." He gave it to her listing all the qualifications that should make it easy to find the exact one or similar one to that.

"Oka-y," she nodded assuredly, "This way." He walked with her to the leather jacket display while keeping his eye out for the woman who had her claws into him the last time he was in here.

"She's stepped out for a minute," the blonde haired lady smirked at him.

"Who did?" He tried not to act like he had a problem with the said woman.

"You know who, Mr. Spinelli," she looked away from him back to the jackets where she found the one that matched his description.

He nodded so he wouldn't seem like a moron, "Glad to hear."

"Well I think I found it," she turned to him, "You want to try it on or does it look fine."

"Uh sure," he nodded and she politely helped him put his arms into it.

"How does it feel?" She looked away from the mirror, "Does it feel like the old one?"

He formed a special smile, a smile reserved for when he thought he looked cool, "Close enough."

"Great," she smiled feeling like she had done her job, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Nope, that'll be it," he quickly said before his eyes caught a mannequin in a black suit with an orange dress shirt and blue tie. His thoughts immediately turned to tonight and all the beautiful dresses he watch Maxie try on in the past our, "On second hand."

"Okay," she followed his gaze where she heard him utter in a quiet amazement, "The jackal wants that."

"The Jackal?" She looked at him confused where he looked at her slightly embarrassed that she heard him call himself that in such a drooling manor, "I'm sorry, I meant can you ring up that suit along with," he took the jacket off, "This."

"Why certainly," she took the jacket from him where he quickly said, "And can you make it kind of…" He looked at the entrance, "Fast?"

"This a surprise Mr. Spinelli?" She sweetly smiled.

"Sort of, um, do you need to measure me or…"

"No, we have your size on the computer," she assuredly told him and he looked at her kind of surprised at how efficient that was.

"I'll be right back," she walked away from him towards the computers. He nodded, watching her, and then curiously walked back to the front entrance of the store scanning the outskirts of it for his blonde one. He had just about given up hope that the bathroom run would be quick when his eyes swore he saw her in Tiffany's.

"Damian?" He heard the Stacy the seductress calling his name.

He tried to ignore her voice from behind and narrow his eyes in on his Maximista, but the plan failed when Stacy stopped just to the side of him, "Damian Spinelli?"

He sighed heavily inside, "That's my name."

"Hmmm…Don't wear it out," she flirted as she stepped in front of him.

"Hi Stacy," he simply said trying to make it obvious that he was not amused by her behavior.

"Hey to you," she stepped closer to him.

He dreadfully smiled where as she reached up to touch him he turned away from her, "Um I'm looking for some new dress shirts," he said without thinking for now he was sure that until Maxie arrived that Stacy would be trying to put the moves on him.

"Well I think I can help you in that department," she walked past him with a wink. He grinned widely like he was excited and then the moment she looked away from him he glanced back at Tiffany's and confirmed his suspicions, Maximista was definitely in there, the only question was why.

"Ma'am?" Spoke an old man in the jewelry store.

Maxie startlingly looked up at him, "Oh I'm not looking."

"Sure you are," he amusingly huffed, "I've been standing over there for two minutes and you've been gazing at these wedding rings for a while."

She nervously looked at him wanting to fight that she had been thinking the idea, "no…I…" She began to twist the ring on her finger where suddenly a light bulb turned on, "Actually," she glanced down her finger twisting the ring off, "I was wondering if you could tell me how much my boyfriend might have spent on this."

"Oh," he surprisingly looked at her where he leaned over the glass casing taking the ring from her hand, "I remember the gentlemen that had this made." He squinted his eyes as he examined the ring.

"Oh," Maxie tried to appear interested before glancing at Men's Warehouse wondering if Spinelli had noticed her abnormal absence yet.

Spinelli slid his hands into his jean pockets as somehow Stacy had him buying more dress shirts, "And Chloe," she looked up at the blonde chick who had been handling his order earlier, "Why don't you get him a silver shirt and black tie too."

Chloe looked up at Spinelli looking for his permission and he nodded, "Stacy," he glanced at her, "Do you spend other men's money for them too?"

She giggled touching his arm, "Only the men I like."

He gave her and awkward look and she immediately grew worried, "Oh I'm sorry, is that the arm you just had surgery on?"

"Oh no," he shook his head smiling, "It's the other arm."

She looked at relived, "Phew," she rolled her eyes before staring at him, "How are you…anyway?"

"Recovered," Spinelli crossed his arms.

"I see," she smiled before another awkward silence formed.

"Stacy," he uttered feeling like he should tell her that he was taken.

She looked up at him slightly blushing, "I know, you just got out of relationship and you need time…"

He continued to awkwardly look at her where she felt pressured by his glare, "I read it in the paper, you and Maxie broke up and I just want to say that I'm sorry."

He held his breath feeling every bone in his body telling him not to correct her, "Um."

"Oh I'm so embarrassed," she put her hand over her mouth, "You probably didn't want to be reminded of that considering the last time you were here it was for a date with her, I'm sorry Damian."

He slowly smirked at her knowing that if he just pretended to act like he was single and heartbroken that the woman would back off so that's what he did…well sort of.

"Stacy," he looked way from her, "If I wanted to make an impression, like I wanted to stick out in the crowd," he turned to look at the assortment of colored dress shirts, "What would you have me wear?"

"Um," she eyed him believing it was weird at how quickly he sort of just forgot how stupid she was just acting, "Black." She walked to the shirts pulling out a black dress shirt, "Red tie" she dangled it over.

"Hmm," he walked towards her somewhat surprised at how intrigued he was with the matching of the colors that drew him in like a stranger with candy.

"You going to a party sometime soon?" She curiously looked at him, but not because she wanted to be his date, no, she just wondered why he had that look on his face.

"No, well I don't know, but," he stopped front of her where he set down his border bag and took the coat hanger and tie to the mirror. He pinned it against himself, "It's missing something."

"Yeah black dress paints and a jacket," she eyed him imagining what he would look like in the clothes.

He negatively nodded, "No, do you have any hats?"

"Right next to you," she pointed at rack and he glanced at it seeing just what he was looking for.

"Now how do I look?" He adjusted the vintage black hat that a certain detective found himself wearing in the Maltese Falcon.

"Bad," she smiled interestingly.

"Bad?" He confusingly looked at her, "Why I think I look like Humphrey Bogart, Mr. Sam Spade."

She giggled, "In that?" She huffed in amusement and he shrugged his shoulders like maybe not.

"No," she walked towards him, "I think you look bad ass is what I was going to say, dark."

"Dark?" He glanced at her wanting to elaborate.

"Powerful," she stopped in front of him, "Like a player."

He saw the glimmer in her eyes and realized that his plan to stop her sexual prowl was a plan failed, "I'll take these and that'll be all."

"I'll ring them up," her fingers touched his as she took the clothes. What was sickening about it all was that he could see she got off on that little touch. It made him wish his Maximista would return soon for Stacy the seductress unnerved him.

Maxie glanced at the man who was still looking at the ring, "So tell me how much he loves me?"

"Well," he glanced up at her with a smirk, "I can tell you he loves you thousands."

"How many thousands?" Maxie smiled at him brightly.

His smirk turned cautious, "Why are you planning on selling this ring?"

"No, no," she was appalled the man would even ask, "I just…Well, he and I are having a special night tonight and…"

"You want to know just how far you need to go to make it special?" The old geezer looked at Maxie who slightly pretended to be shy about it.

"Your expression says it all," he softly smiled, "I'll be right back."

Maxie smiled in accomplishment of getting rid of him and then peered down at the rings again, the rings that she never considered wearing since Jesse. It was a thinly elegant golden band and a diamond the size of Kate's. Her eyes had gazed on it the second she wandered in here, yes wandered in for she hadn't thought about the idea until this morning when she was watching him sleep. The unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach was that she could get used to him permanently being in her life and a ring could seal the deal.

"You know if you wanted some privacy all you had to do was say something," the old man stood in the doorway of the back.

She nervously looked at him knowing she was definitely caught now, "I really am just curiously looking, not serious about any of it…"

"Would you like to try it on?" The old man smiled like it wouldn't be a problem.

"Um…" She bit her lower lip as he stopped in front of her where he didn't even wait for an answer, he just opened the glass window.

"This one?" He touched the golden band and she for some reason felt like she had to look around the room as if someone might be watching her. "Ye-ah." She looked at him with an awkward smile, "but just for a few minutes."

He understood perfectly setting the holder of the ring on the counter, "go ahead."

She hesitatingly smiled as her fingers slowly grasped the ring and slid it on her finger. From the moment the gold touched her skin she knew it was meant to be and so did he, "Perfect fit."

She smiled excitedly in reaction as she gazed the large diamond twinkling in the lights, it took her breath away at how much she admired it.

"It's Tiffany's most famous engagement ring. The ring of rings, as it has been called, is the most brilliant ring ever and the most beautiful at 2.5 carats."

"Wow," she took a deep breath before giddily looking up at him, "It looks good doesn't it?"

To be young and in love again he thought, "Forty-thousand dollars good."

She darted her eyes to his in astonishment of the figure "But you can't put a price on love, it is an emotion that many desire and few are lucky to actually possess."

She looked away from him not sure how to respond to such poetic words that sounded as if Spinelli had uttered them.

"Do you want me to put it on you wish list for the future?" He wince a smile, but was disappointed when she nodded no and began taking the ring off.

"No, it's okay, but I don't plan on getting married anytime soon."

"You can never be too sure," he suggested as held his hand out with the other ring resting on it.

"I can be though," she took her ring back after placing the golden beauty on his hand, "My boyfriend won't be proposing, he just gave me this," Maxie smiled down at the ring she was twisting back in place.

"I see, well have a nice evening," he put the engagement ring back.

"I will," she smiled with giddiness still pleasantly glowing.

The old Michael Caine of a man nodded in goodbye where as soon as she left, he made a note on Spinelli's account of the prized wedding ring.

Spinelli set the borders bag on the counter, tired of holding it, like most men who were annoyingly exhausted from a few hours of shopping.

"So how much has your expertise cost me?" He joked as held out his credit card.

"Nothing you can't afford," she humored back.

"Hmm," he intriguingly looked at her while his hands gripped the edges of the counter.

She giggled as she swiped the card and handed it back with her eyes curiously looking that bookstore bag, "Should be just a minute for the transaction to go through."

He nodded as he slid the card back into his wallet, "Only a minute?" He teased and she giggled once more, "No more than five I promise."

He chuckled with a wide grin that left her in aw and mislead her to think that it was appropriate to ask, "What's in the bag?"

"Uh," he stuttered, "Just some magazines."

"Magazines?" She flirted like she would be intrigued if they were playboy.

He saw her hands slither into the bag and he freighted at what she would discover.

"Magazines eh?" She looked up at him slightly ticked off at the 'What to expect when you're expecting' book in her hand, "Well I'd like to hope this is a gift for someone, but there's another one in there like this."

He was a deer caught in headlights, "Um I can…"

"Are you going to be a dad?" She shockingly asked him for she thought he was way too young to be a father.

Before he could answer he heard Maximista calling his name and he immediately looked at Stacy who put two and two together, "I'd like to keep it," the book, "A surprise." He honestly looked at her to put the book back and forget that she had discovered what she had.

"Spinelli!" Maxie playfully whined coming from behind and Spinelli intensely looked at Stacy to drop her jealousy for a moment.

She displeasingly put the book back and turned away from him as she saw Maxie playfully cover his eyes.

"Heeey," he giggled removing her hands and setting them on his hips as he turned to her with his back leaning on the counter, "I was beginning to think you left me."

"Never," she leaned in to plant a kiss on his lips.

He wrapped his arms around her waist while she wrapped hers around his neck as they deepened their kiss.

Stacy gritted her teeth, but was thankfully distracted by sound of the receipt printing as well as Spinelli's phone ringing.

Maxie leaned her forehead against his, bummed out that they had been disturbed.

He reached for his blue jean pocket, "It's Johnny."

Maxie leaned away from him so he could answer the phone and looked up at Stacy, "Oh hey…"

Spinelli walked away from them, "John how are things?"

Maxie looked away from him, "How are you?"

Stacy smiled, "Not as good as you," she ripped the receipt, "Congratulations."

Maxie oddly looked at her where Stacy explained, "He told me in my embarrassing attempt to hit on him."

Maxie found that amusing for she had never really seen Stacy as a threat, she had known the woman for years and although had seen Stacy hit on a lot of men, she knew it was just fun.

"I mean I was kind of surprised," Stacy looked down at the receipt pretending to check over it.

"Why's that?" Maxie questioningly looked at her.

"Well he's just so young," Stacy emphasized, "Not that he wouldn't be a good father or anything, but he's too…" She paused pretending to lose her train of thought as she gazed at him.

"Too…." Maxie hung on her every word.

"Well," Stacy looked at her, "Don't take this the wrong way, but Spinelli is hot."

"I'm well aware," Maxie giggled glancing at Spinelli who seemed to be having a grand time to talking to Johnny.

Stacy amusingly huffed, "It's just too bad that a man like him has to settle down at the peak of his age."

"Excuse me?" Maxie looked at her completely taken off guard.

"Well, I'm not saying he's a ruined man, I mean I think it's genius the way you've trapped him."

"What?" Maxie again looked at her appalled.

"Oh come on, I mean he's no cop, he's better actually," she glanced up at Spinelli who was still talking on the phone.

"Stacy I don't know what you're talking about," Maxie nervously looked at her feeling uneasy as they spoke.

"Yeah you do," Stacy looked back at her, "A man like that doesn't dream of getting back together with his girl friend to find out he's gonna be a father and then tied to marriage."

"Spinelli and I aren't engaged," Maxie clearly stated while ignoring her other comments.

"Not yet," she simply said, "But you know he'll ask at some point because that's what most men do."

"Spinelli isn't like most men."

"You're right, he's not. He's wealthy, he's good looking, he's obviously devoted to you otherwise he probably would have taken me up on my offer, so," she looked away from Spinelli, "You've done well I'll say. I'm impressed at the jack pot you've hit."

"I'm not that person anymore," she seriously wanted her to forget about the affair that she had once spotted her having with Lucky Spencer.

"I certainly hope not," she glanced at Spinelli who seemed to be finishing the phone call, "I'd hate for Spinelli to get hurt in a trick."

"Stacy!" Maxie abruptly turned to her in an upsetting voice, "I'm not tricking him and he is not trapped. In fact he was the one that insisted he wanted to have this baby so for all you're assumptions that he's going to be the father who didn't want to be a father are wrong. He wants this baby and he wants me."

"Well good," Stacy glared at her while setting the receipt on the counter with a pen, "But you should just be warned that the minute you decide you don't want him or your child because god knows that's just how selfish you are, someone will." Stacy sinisterly smiled, "Single fathers are very in and a guy like Spinelli will be snatched up quickly."

Maxie sickeningly tried to avoid her gaze as she felt herself wanting to crumble against the harsh words of who was now an enemy. Stacy smiled at the way her taunting had made her re-evaluate her relationship with the man, "And…" She leaned over the counter ever so close to Maxie's ear, "I'm not saying I won't go after him, but a certain nurse might."

Maxie jerked her head with a passion in her hand to want to slap the woman, but she knew if she did that she'd be playing right into her games. "Well that's not going to happen because I'm not going to give him up to a two faced obsessed bitch." Maxie leaned in closer, "He and I are happy and in love and if I catch you anywhere near him, I'm gonna bring you all kinds of hell."

"Maxie!" Spinelli happily shouted where Maxie stared at Stacy, "All kinds of hell."

"Maxie," Spinelli said again as he walked back over to them.

"Yeah?" She turned to him with a somewhat fake smile on her face.

"I have good news, well, I don't particularly care, but I know you missed fair Lulu…"

"Johnny found her?!" Maxie smiled honestly now.

"Yup, he found her and they are…" He undoubtedly bopped his head back and forth, "On there way back so to speak." He stopped just front of her where he could see something different in her face, her eyes, her smile, her skin tone.

"Everything okay here?" He stepped closer gently setting his hands on her shoulders where she nervously smiled, "Yeah, we were just catching up."

"Oh," he glanced up at Stacy, "Well glad you two had the opportunity to say hello again," he glanced back down at Maxie where he kissed her cheek and then walked to the counter.

"So how much did you end up forcing me to spend?" Spinelli joked.

"Well if you must know," she took the pen circling the total.

"Hmm," he grunted, "I sense a discount here."

"Maybe," she smiled teasingly, "You're our favorite customer."

Maxie rolled her eyes, "Yeah I bet."

Spinelli heard the sigh in her voice, "Well anything to look good for my Maximista," he looked at her while setting his hand down on the receipt. He scribbled his signature while pulling Maxie into a kiss and then set the pen down and wrapped his arms around her waist, developing the kiss.

Maxie pulled out of the kiss with a teasing smile, "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah please," Stacy coughed in annoyance.

Spinelli goofily smiled thinking just before he should grab his bags he should nibble on his fair Maximista's neck.

"Spinelli," she giggled, "Stop that."

"Allll-right," he chuckled, kissing her cheek and then motioning back to the counter.

"Here you go Damian," Stacy put the receipt in his bag, "Oh and don't forget about your reading material."

Spinelli glared at her, "I won't thank you," he grabbed the borders bag and dropped it into the larger bag.

"Thanks again," he smiled.

"Anytime," she flirtatiously smiled back, but knew he wasn't listening as he wrapped his arm around Maxie and walked towards the entrance of the store.

As soon as they walked out Maxie glanced up at him, "You are never shopping there again."

"What gave you that idea?" He joked and she playfully slapped her hand on his chest, "Shut up."

"The Jackal told you she was vicious!" He laughed, "But Maximista didn't believe me and took the hard road of jealousy."

"I wasn't jealous!"

"Really," he looked at her seriously, stopping in his tracks, "So I should go back…" He motioned and she pulled him back, "Don't you dare!"

"Oh," he goofily smiled, "So you were jealous?"

She pulled on his shirt, "Insanely…" She leaned into kiss him where he uttered, "That's what I like to here from my bad blonde one."

She pulled away before their lips could touch, looking slightly offended although she would never take it back.

"Not that I had a problem with you staking your claim on the Jackal, but…"

"Oh, but you enjoyed it," she cleverly leaned closer.

He nodded 'yes', "I just hope you still have that fire in you tonight."

"Well," she slowly leaned in with her eyes locked on his, "I guess…." She leaned closer to his lips that were anticipating the pent up kiss.

"You'll just have to wait!" She pulled away not kissing him at all.

"Hey!" He chased after her where he wrapped his arms around her, "That's not fair!"

She felt his ticklish hands around her waist, "Spin-eelli!"

"Maximista thinks she's funny ehh!" He tickled her crazy.

"Okay stop it! Okay!" She turned to him crashing her lips into his, "You're horrible you know that?!"

"Yeah," he cracked a wide playful smile before kissing her, "But you love it."

"Spinelli," she pulled away from his insatiable lips, "If you don't get me to that hotel room…"

"You're going to die of starvation?" He pulled away where she desperately looked at him out of breath, "How did you know?"

He quickly kissed her, "Because I was thinking the same thing!"

She excitedly smiled, maybe it wasn't just her and her out of control sex hormones, "Great minds think alike!"

"And don't we think great?!...Together!" He pulled her into a short flammable kiss before they pulled apart and sprinted to the car.

Maxie walked into the Metro Court arm hooked around Spinelli's who was modeling his new black leather jacket that he had bought from the mall. They tried to slyly enter the hotel with their bags in hand like they weren't hot for each other, but Maxie found it an impossible task, "Don't start up a conversation with Marty."

He frustratingly looked at her, "I know!"

"Don't I know me!" She slightly raised her voice before lowering it, "Don't be polite either, just get the card and…" She paused, as his stare was obnoxious, "What?"

"I'm just taking in this moment, the blonde one really wants the Jackal, now who's begging for sex?"

"Shut it," she put her fingers against his lips, "I'll be by the elevator, don't make me wait Damian." She playfully pushed him away where he stumbled into two bellmen on his way to the counter. Maxie rolled her eyes as she backed towards the elevator, laughing inside at how awkward the jackal still was.

"Mr. Spinelli?" Marty leaned over the counter as Spinelli picked himself up, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Spinelli quickly stood up, "Is the room ready?"

"Yes it is," Marty handed the cards, "Mrs. Jacks went out of her way to meet your demands, but was happy to do it."

"Great," Spinelli took the keycards from him where as he started to part from the counter he quickly jerked his head, "And we don't want to be disturbed."

Marty nodded, "Of course," but he knew his words had already left Spinelli's earshot.

Spinelli evilly grinned at Maxie who walked into the elevator before him, "Thanks Marty!" He waved his hand back.

"You're wel," he cracked the shouting of his words when he saw a woman's hand reach out of the elevator and forcefully pull Spinelli into the elevator.

It wasn't the most conventional elevator music playing, no it was the radio playing "One thing on my mind" by Chauncey Jacks.

The bags hit the floor and Spinelli raced his hands around her waist as she hit the back wall of the elevator.

"Max…" He pulled away, but she pulled him back, "I need to hit….the 12th floor."

"12th floor!" She angrily pulled him back into a kiss as her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Only…" He leaned away but she nibbled his lips back, "The best…" He pierced the corner of her lips, "For you."

Maxie roughly pushed him away leaving him speechless where she just stood there with a desirable giggle, "You are the best thing for me, now push that button and get back over here!"

He shockingly nodded, "Alright…" He stretched his arm out and pushed the button where as he motioned back to her the elevator opened.

"Hey guys!" Sam smiled walking in from the lobby.

Spinelli stood beside Maxie, both standing innocent.

Sam walked in pushing the third floor for the Metro Court Restaurant, "You guys are quiet." She glanced at them where Spinelli stuttered, "Uh sorry."

Sam glanced down at the bags that seemed to be scattered about, "Did some shopping I see."

Maxie embarrassingly smiled, "Oh yeah."

The third floor chimed and Sam smiled jokingly, "You two have fun."

As soon as she walked out and the doors closed, he turned to her wrapping his hands around her back as she wrapped hers around his neck. Their ferocious making out had sent her to lean against the buttons of the elevator.

"Spine-elli!" She whined as they kissed.

"Shh," he cupped her cheek deepening the kiss so she couldn't complain that it was going to take them twice as long to get to the room.

She moved her hands to his biceps and began removing his black jacket. When one arm became free he pulled out of the kiss to remove it from the other arm where she undid her red blouse to reveal a scandalous black bra.

He smiled in great admiration, "Is there a black surprise in here Maximista?" He slid his hand into her jeans.

"Spin-elli!" She whined with a high-pitched tone.

He giggled moving his lips to her neck and removing his hand that was just about to go beneath the lacey underwear, "I can be a gentlemen for…" He glanced up at the remaining floors, "For five…" He paused with fear as the elevator chimed and began to open.

"Shoot," Maxie nervously looked down for her blouse, but only saw his leather Jacket.

The doors opened fully to see the White Knight and Kate Howard waiting, "Max…" He gently put her behind him as the two walked in with adjusted smiles.

"Spinelli!" Jax smiled, "I heard you were staying here."

"Hey Maxie," Kate crookedly smiled at the blushing blonde who leaned against Spinelli's back with her arms around his waist, trying to cover herself up.

"Hi Kate," she glowingly smiled while feeling Spinelli's hand gripping her thigh.

"Spinelli," Jax charmingly uttered, "I look forward to that meeting tomorrow."

Spinelli cleared his throat, "As do I."

"Good," Jax glanced away from him to Kate, both smirking.

Spinelli looked over his shoulder at Maxie who was too happy to be embarrassed anymore.

The elevator chimed at the eighth floor and Jax and Kate casually walked out of the elevator like nothing had happened. The doors closed and the two started giggling, but didn't stop their antics. She moved her hands to his brown belt and he tenderly wrapped his hand around her milky skin waist before kissing her chest.

The belt went flying and Spinelli tried to break eye contact to see just where it had flown off to, but Maxie cupped his cheek and pulled him into a kiss.

The tenth floor chimed and Spinelli rushed to pull his pants up only to see in the corner of his eye Mr. Corinthos Sir and The lawful one.

Maxie put her hand over her mouth in a soft giggle at Spinelli's shocked glare at Sonny who simply smiled in amusement, "I've got the same color." He pointed down to the black boxers.

Maxie leaned her forehead on Spinelli's shoulder quietly laughing now where Spinelli smiled in relief that Mr. Sir had not been cold.

"Carpe diem Mr. Jackal," Diane beamed a grin at him.

"Yes," he looked away from them to Maxie, "Carpe diem lawfully one."

"Well catch the next elevator Spinelli," Sonny looked at Diane as the elevators closed and Spinelli looked at Maxie completely red in the cheeks, "That was not funny."

She looked up at him chuckling, "Yeah it was."

"Well," he pulled his pants up, "Um…"

"We're here!" She looked at the approaching twelfth level of the hotel.

She leaned against the door of their hotel room kissing his neck as Spinelli tried numerous times to open the door, "Damn it Spinelli!" She quickly grabbed the keycard from his hand and swiped it.

"It's not that easy," he muttered, but the door flung open and he grunted, "Actually it is that easy." He looked up at her to see she was stunned standing in the doorway.

"Spinelli," she softly said as her eyes glistened at the candles and the rose petals, "Did you…" She turned to him, "Do this?"

"Well the Jackal didn't physically do this, but…" He lost his words as she cupped his cheek and ever so gently kissed him.

"You are so sweet," she softly told him with tears in her eyes.

He smiled at the hormones making her vulnerable, "Only because of you...am I sweet." He kissed her forehead and then walked her into the room holding her hand.

He closed the door after them and set their bags down where he felt Maxie let go of his hand and walk to the cart with wine coldly frosting in a bucket of ice.

She lifted the bottle of wine and turned to him, "Well I don't think we'll be able to use this," she smirked.

He giggled walking towards her, "You can't," he took the bottle from her, "but…"

"Oh no you don't!" She took the bottle back, "If I can't drink you can't drink!" She set it back in the bucket.

"Where's the fun in that?" He playfully whined, "I don't get to tease you?" He wrapped his arm around her back playfully pushing her into him.

She grinned at how forceful he was, but completely loving it, "No you don't," she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Spinelli jokingly smiled, "I'm not gonna have any fun while your pregnant, am I?"

She nodded no and he smirked, "It's going to be a long seven months."

"Well," she leaned in slowly, "You've done pretty well restraining yourself in the last seven minutes, I think you can handle seven months."

"Oh you think so?" He playfully leaned forward.

She nodded yes as he neared her lips where she teasingly missed his kiss and pulled away from his close proximity to pick up her Victoria Secret bag.

"I'll be right back," she evilly smiled while slowly letting go of his hand.

He stood there speechless trying to fight to the temptation to follow her into the bathroom. The door closed and Spinelli turned to the bed with a goofy smile wondering if this was really about to happen. He didn't waste anytime though. He rushed to the bed, pulled the sheets back, and stripped down. As he positioned himself on the bed his eagerness to jump into the sack with her became lost for a moment as his mind began thinking of how long he had been waiting for this moment and how this moment was now altered because a baby was involved. He knew it would take too long to open his laptop or too noisy to call Dr. Lee, but there was the book that he bought. He jolted off the bed, rifled through the bag within in a bag and grabbed the help book on pregnancy. Resting against the pillows, he checked the index for sex and then quickly flipped to the page where he skimmed to the answer of his most important question...Is it safe to have to…to well you know…Spinelli thought.

"Spinelli…." She called out where he jerked his head up to see a dark lit bathroom.

Thankfully he just read the sentence of information he need to read and tossed the book to the ground. He got himself situated on the bed and then crossed his arms, "Pres-ent."

From the moment he saw her he knew he must have died and gone to heaven. Sure it sounded cheesy, but as she walked towards him, in this pink lingerie gown thing as he described it, she looked like an angel. Maxie knew by the look of his face that picking the pink Satin merrywidow outfit would be the right choice. She knew she could have picked something more revealing and he would have been just as stunned, but there was something in her that didn't want to dress like that. Maybe she was just starting feel the effects of being pregnant or maybe she just didn't want to be the trashy devil blonde girl. He made her feel like a princess, kind of like Mac, oddly enough.

"Spinelli?" She stopped in front of the bed calling his name to see if he was still breathing.

"Uh-ye-ah?" His voice cracked and he embarrassingly blushed, "Um yeah?"

She crawled onto the bed where he was sure she asked, "Are you okay?" But he wasn't sure with his eyes targeted on her breasts.

"Spinelli?" She sat on his lap, "Hello…Earth to Mr. Jackal?"

He shook his head snapping out of his fantasy, "Sorry," he nervously smiled before interlacing his hand in hers, "Is everything okay?"

"Ye-ah," she nodded, but he was convinced there was something slightly off about her.

"Maximista?" He softly looked into her eyes where he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, "Hey?" He lifted her chin up, "What's wrong?"

She sighed with a frown, "I don't know." She got off his lap and sat next to him.

"Wow," she smiled suddenly, "This bed…" She paused as she leaned back on the pillows.

"Is comfortable?" He guessed with a goofy smile at her.

"Yeah," she sighed happily.

"Well it's even better with the sheets on," he folded them over her and then glanced up at her, "Maxie, are you tired?"

"I wasn't before!" She said disappointedly.

"It's okay," he honestly looked at her, "We had a busy day."

"Spinelli I never get tired from shopping, never."

"Well," he chuckled, "That was before."

"Yeah before," she said slightly annoyed.

"Maxie it's okay to be a little tired, I myself feel like I'm still catching up on a month's of sleep," he stroked her blonde hair.

"I noticed," she humorously smiled thinking of this morning.

He gently dropped his hand from her hair to her cheek, "The point is we all get tired."

"I know, but I really wanted to be with you and this will be the second time that I haven't been able to…"

"Hey," he sweetly interrupted, "The night is still young," he excitedly animated, "We are young!" He kissed her forehead and then leaned away from her to climb off the bed.

"Spinelli what are you doing?" She amusingly stared at his burst of energy.

He walked over to his bag of clothes, "How about I give you that fashion show you've always wanted?"

"What?" She giggled wondering where this came from, "Spinelli..." She leaned up from the pillows as he excitedly ran into the bathroom.

"Hang on Maximista!" He shouted.

"Spin-elli?" She laughed silly, "You don't have to do this."

"Nonsense," he said seriously before walking out in black tie dangling against his bare chest.

"This a preshow?" She smiled at the lack of pants and dress shirt.

"Yes," he smiled charmingly, "And while I change into each outfit you need something to entertain yourself."

"I do?" She amusingly huffed.

He nodded, "And I…" He turned to the cart, his hands reaching into the white curtains, "Don't think that a glass of ginger-ale," he revealed it, "Or a plate of crackers," he pulled out from the curtains.

She intriguingly glared at him as he set the glass on the nightstand and placed the plate next to her.

"I'm starting to think you planned this."

"Me?" He leaned away from her, "Do I look like a guy with a plan?"

"Are you kidding me?" She grabbed hold of his tie, "Damian Spinelli you are a smooth operator."

"Ehhh," he shrugged his shoulders.

"No," she playfully whined, "Not eh. You are the true mind of a genius."

He smiled in agreement, "And behind every genius…"

She wasn't sure what to say, "Is a blonde girl?"

He giggled, looking down where he saw her breasts, "Wow."

"Spinelli!" She playfully hit him.

"What?" He glanced up at her, "I see just another great thing about this pregnancy."

She rolled her eyes and then slowly rose her hand to stroke his brown curls, his goofy grin making it impossible not to think he was adorable in this moment.

"As I was saying," he chuckled, "Behind every genius, is a muse."

"And I'm your muse?"

"You," he leaned in, "Are my inspiration." He softly smiled before pecking her lips and walking around to the other side of the bed.

"To conclude this preshow," he bent down to the book where he hid it around his back, "You need something to keep yourself occupied while I change in and out of these dashing suits."

"And what do you have in mind?" She played along as he crawled onto the bed.

"How about a little reading?" He stopped in front of her seeing her curious expression.

"I thought that with your impending motherhood and my impending fatherhood, that you might enjoy this," he shyly looked down at the sheets, nervous that she wouldn't like it.

"Spinelli," she reached out to cup his cheek, seeing a fear in his eyes, "I'm sure I'll like whatever it is you got me."

He nodded, "I know, but…" He pouted still unable to look at her, "I just…" He looked up at her, "I just want you to know how happy you've honestly made me and that I…well," he sighed because there was an emotion of vulnerability in this moment that he wanted to tell her. It was an emotion that all men reach, that he had had seen Stone Cold reach with Fair Samantha, a refusal to go on without the people you love.

"Spinelli," she slowly said looking into his eyes, "Breathe."

He nodded, "Sorry, I just," he looked up at her, "I just, I can't lose you..." He let go of her hand to kiss her forehead. "Or…" He remained focused on her eyes while his hand gently slid back the silky lingerie over her stomach, "you…" He looked away from her where as he kissed her abdomen, essentially believing he was kissing the baby, he felt Maxie's tender hands stroking his brown hair.

She watched the connection he was making with their child and thought back to what Dr. Lee had told her, she was right and that scared her. She didn't know how Spinelli could be incredibly devoted to something as small as a blueberry and yet she barely felt a connection.

"The Jackal loves you both," he said confidently before revealing the book by placing it in her hands and walking away from her to the bathroom.

She called his name wanting to share her reaction with him, but realized he was too shy to see it through. As she read the cover and began opening it, she felt déjà vu for she had seen this book, read parts of it before. When she was faking her pregnancy with Lucky, she had to do the research to make it believable and when Robin told her she was expecting, she gave her this as a congratulations gift. She never thought that five months later she'd be looking at this again, but then again everything she ever expected to happen never came true, like Georgie having the fairy tale ending with Dillon. Never the less she looked up the table of contents and turned to chapter 7 and began reading what was most appropriate to the stage she was at. Truthfully though if Spinelli couldn't exactly convince her a hundred percent to have this baby, then she was most confident a book couldn't.

Spinelli adjust the black tie around his silver dress shirt and then poked his head out with a frown slowly forming into a smile, he could see she was genuinely interested and that made him hopeful.

"So," he cleared his throat where she looked up, "What do you think about this?"

It matched well, but silver and black, they were colors that just weren't him.

"I guess…"

"You guess?" He confusingly looked at her as he twirled around, "The Jackal doesn't look good?"

"Oh on the contrary," she giggled, "The Jackal looks very good, but…"

He interrupted, "The Jackal thinks he knows what you mean…" He walked back into the bathroom amused at the ideas he had planned.

Moments later he walked out in a black dress shirt with silver tie, "What about this?"

She looked up again from the pages that had her attention, "Interesting."

"You hate it," he stood in front of the bed.

"Nooo," she sighed, "I don't hate it."

"But you don't like it?" He looked at her honestly disappointed for he thought he looked kind of sharp in it, a real tool.

"Spinelli…"

"No," he put his hands up in defense, "I think I know what you want."

"Okay?!" She amusingly looked back down at the book having no idea that she would find some of the things in their like tips on how to handle morning sickness so informative.

Spinelli stood in front of the bed now, a white tie, "You know I'm beginning to think that book was a bad idea." He said with his hands on his hips.

"And I'm beginning to think this fashion show was a bad idea," she teased back.

"What?" He looked at her appalled, "You don't like the color, the black and white?"

She set the book on her lap, "Spinelli, those colors aren't you."

"So?" He jumped in defense, "Isn't the best part about dressing up, being someone your not or maybe could be?"

She giggled at his desirability to be a bad guy, still, "Spinelli why don't you come back to bed and…"

"No," he kindly looked at her, "I've got one more idea."

"Alll-right…" She picked up the book again.

He walked into the bathroom and pulled out the dress shirt and tie that he hoped would catch her interest this time. Luckily for him, it would do more than that. Maxie glanced up at the closed bathroom doors amusingly thinking back at his attempts to impress her when really he didn't need to impress her at all. She read the last bottom paragraph and then turned the page where suddenly there was no longer a man blending in with the shadows.

She put the book down and watched as he slowly departed from the darkness of their dim lit room.

"Is this what you were expecting?" He grinned mysteriously.

The candles flickered against his orange shirt and highlighted the shininess of his blue tie, lighting him up just enough that she found her eagerness from the mall and the elevator again.

"Now that's more like it," she smiled as he neared closer to the bed.

"Really?" He asked twirling around, "You like the colorful Mr. Jackal…"

"Versus the dark menacing Mr. Jackal?" She pondered, "I'll take the man I fell in love with any day."

He nodded as he walked around to her side of the bed where he stood still and let her take control of his modeling moves.

"Come here," she motioned with her finger where he met her demands and walked over to her.

She moved the book to the nightstand as well as the plate and then gazed up at him, "Closer."

"Is there something wrong with my tie?" He glanced down at it where he soon saw her hand grasping it.

He looked up at her wondering what was going on, but as he forcefully took a seat on the bed she loosened it up, "Now there is."

He cautiously looked up at her wondering if this was an invitation, "Has Maximista rested enough?"

She undid the rest of his tie and then pulled it through the collar. Her fingers moved to the buttons and before he knew it she was pulling up his tucked in shirt, "Spinelli you could help me out here?"

He instantly smiled at her where he moved his hands to his belt and she ripped it right from his waist, "The jackal senses you enjoyed that."

She giggled as he leaned towards her, "A little."

"Oh the Jackal disagrees," he leaned closer forcing her to lean all the way back down on her pillows, "You liked it more than just a little." He passionately kissed her lips and then leaned up from the bed dropping his black pants down. He rapidly pulled the sheets back and then climbed into bed where he pulled the sheets back and wrapped his arms around her kissing every part of her. Oddly enough though he still had his orange dress shirt on and for some reason didn't feel the need to take it off just yet, "Maxie," he kissed her neck before finding her lips.

"Yea?" She looked up at him with a smile.

"You know what's great about this moment?"

"That we're about to have sex?" She said out of breath as kiss his chest.

"Yes, but," he paused moving his hands to his boxer shorts and gradually pulling them down.

"But what?" She kissed his shoulder with a scar on it.

Once he felt free from his boxers he motioned his hands to her pink lacey gown and pulled it off. They joined closer together where as Spinelli positioned himself perfectly on top of her, he looked down, "But that I'm about to make love to you in my favorite color."

"Well I'd rather it be that than that dreadful black," she teased wrapping her arms around him where he looked at her offended, "Hey the Jackal looked pretty bad ass in black."

"Well I thought you looked pretty bad ass in orange, now shut up and make love to me!" She looked him straight in the eye thinking if they waited any longer she would just about die.

"You definitely still have the fire in you tonight Maximista!" He pulled her into a tongue-twisting kiss before pursuing into her and the two taking part in a much longing passion since…seven weeks and four days.

An hour later…

She was resting pleasantly on his shoulder when she began to stroke the front ends of his hair, "That was…."

"Exhausting…" He leaned his head back on the pillows.

"I was going to great," she slid her hand down to his chest.

"Indeed it was," he closed his eyes.

"Aww is the Jackal tired?" She leaned up where he nodded, "You took every bit of energy out of me."

"You mean there's nothing left in you to go again?" She began to lower her hand down his chest.

"Maximista, the jackal needs strength, he needs food and water and…" He shot his eyes open as he felt a certain grip.

"Max…" His voice cracked where he saw her climb on top of him.

"You know what that book you got me said?" She leaned closer ever close to him.

"Wha-t?" He awkwardly smiled.

She kissed her way up his cheek and then his neck, "That sex is…" She whispered into his ear, "Good for the baby." He looked into her eyes, "Where does it say that?"

"It just does," she huffed.

"I want a works cited Maximista," he grunted.

"Spinelli," she softly, but evilly looked into his eyes, "Am I not a trustable source for you?"

He chuckled closing his eyes, "Max-i-mi-sta," he whined.

"Oh come on!" She kissed chest, "I know you have at least twenty minutes left in you."

"Twenty?!" He growled, "Maybe five."

"I can work with that," she uttered and he opened his eyes seriously, "Good for the baby eeehh?"

She nodded silly with a smile he couldn't say no to, "I swear woman you will be the end of me."

She giggled not exactly amused, "Thanks."

"Aww I'm just kidding," he playfully smiled before rolling himself on top, "Twenty minutes and then the Jackal wants to sleep with you right next to him in his arms."

"Deal," she wrapped her arms around him pulling him into a kiss and they began another round of the beauty and the geek lovemaking.

--------

Next chapter: Stacy was the start of negative feed back, but there's more to come and it's not just from Mac. What will happen when Spinelli spills the truth in front of some people who could effect Maxie's career and what will happen when Maxie spills the truth to Jason? Tensions rise and a once confident relationship crumbles. Can Sam, Robin and Mickey (remember Spinelli's coach?) save them? The next chapter afterwards will be a reunion. Johnny returns with Lulu who brings her mystery new guy that Spinelli has a bad pas with. In fear that the numbers might be in Maxie's favor when it comes to a vote, Spinelli enlists the help of a director, a certain Quartermaine to convince fair Maximista that Georgie would want her to do this. The tiffany's ring will pop up very soon.

REVIEW!!!! Thanks guys!


	27. Love or Fashion?

Chapter 27

The sun cracked through the window doors of the balcony onto the bed where Maxie anticipated his hands to wrap over her waist and pull her closer to him.

"Spinelli," she whined as her hand reached for him with her eyes closed. She felt an empty bed where she slowly turned to see she was most definitely the only one on it. The clock read seven on this Friday morning. She didn't have to go to work to at least eleven, but she didn't know what was going on with Spinelli and this 'meeting' he was supposedly having with Jasper Jacks.

"Maximista," she heard him utter her pleasant name from the bathroom where he walked towards her in a white dress shirt and black pants.

She smiled as he planted his hands on the bed and gave her a good morning kiss, "How is the motherly one doing?"

"Better," she softly smiled while her hands wrapped around his rolled up sleeve of his right arm, "How is Mr. Arm hair doing?" She giggled at how she never noticed it before.

He amusingly looked away from her, "I take it the blonde one is not welcoming to the Motherly One name?"

"No," she smiled precisely.

He looked up at her slightly nodding that he would not call her that for at least another week, "Fine you are herby reinstated as the fashionista, the blonde one or…" He slowly leaned his lips to her neck, "The fair…" He kissed her neck before looking up to her lips, "Maximista." He kissed her lips until there was a knock at the door.

"Room service."

Spinelli leaned away from her luscious lips and smirked at her, "I took the liberty of ordering us breakfast."

She surprisingly smiled at him as he walked to the door and opened it, "Good morning gentlemen." The two hotel men entered the room, one pushing a cart and the other holding a few pink slips.

"Um Mr. Spinelli, these are your messages."

"Messages?" Spinelli confusingly looked at him as he looked for his wallet.

"Yes, would you like me to read them to you?" He looked over to Spinelli who was at the night stand smiling at Maxie who had his wallet in her hand.

"Looking for this?" She teased.

"Yes," he playfully took it from her hands, "No that won't be necessary," Spinelli turned to him.

The other bellman prepared the trays and then turned to him, "Mr. Spinelli it's all set for you and the miss," he politely looked at the man who was taking many bills out of his wallet.

Spinelli stopped in front of them, "Thank you." He handed one bellman a hundred and then turned to the other bellman and took the messages. Spinelli handed him a hundred as well and then glanced down at the messages. There was one from Jax, one from a zip code that he was all too familiar with and one from Jason.

"Um," the bellman pointed at the message, "He said it was urgent that you speak with him as soon as possible."

Spinelli glared down at the pink slip, "Did he say what about?"

"No Mr. Morg-an," he stuttered as Spinelli darted his eyes at him with annoyance for speaking his name.

From the bed she could see the scared look on the bellman's face and it was becoming more obvious to her that Spinelli was avoiding Jason at all costs.

"Thank you," Spinelli fakery smiled with a hint for them to leave. He led them to the door and then closed it with his eyes still focused on the message that read:

LAST TIME I PROMISE.

"Spinelli?" She called his name where he instantly looked up at her to see she was about to get out of bed.

"Don't get up," he said as he took the message from Jason and crumpled it up in his pocket. She watched as he tried to cleverly hide what had him briefly distracted, but she wasn't about to let him keep something from her. He brought over the tray to the bed and then sat directly across from her on the bed. He gazed at her for minutes. He examined her eyes that were a little tired, her hair that he needed to tuck behind her hair, he skin that seemed a little pale, his Maximista perhaps needed him today or maybe he was just using her as an excuse to deal with his former best friend.

"How are you feeling?" He concernedly asked cupping her chin before pushing her hair back.

"I'm fine," she honestly smiled wondering why he was suddenly so caring of her.

He lowered his hand, "Are you sure? Cause I don't have to leave and see Jax, we could stay here, you and I and just hang out."

"Spinelli," she leaned in assuredly putting her hand in his, "Stop finding an excuse not to see him."

He was taken back by her words, letting go of her hand and chuckling like she was completely wrong, "I don't know what…"

"Go see Jason."

Spinelli looked away from her, "I have to meet Jax soon so…" He glanced down at the cover on the food. She avoided bringing the subject up again as he raised the metal cover to reveal pancakes with whip cream. She annoyingly grinned at how good they looked to her, but knew she probably wouldn't be able to keep down something so heavy.

"Spinelli, I can't eat this."

He looked up at her smirking, "I know." He moved his hands the other cover, "That's why I ordered you this." He lifted the metal cover to reveal toast and grapes.

"So you're going to tease me with one of my most favorite things for breakfast?"

He goofily smiled and she playfully hit him, "Spinelli! This is so not fair!"

"Oh come on," he giggled, "Your stomach might be stronger than you thought."

She doubted him, "No, I guarantee I won't be able to eat that."

He hastily looked at her amused, "I guess your just going to have to feed my son with toast and grapes."

"Son?" She appallingly looked at him, "You mean daughter…"

"Psh, no." He negatively nodded, "When did I give you that impression?"

"Gee," she rolled her eyes, "I don't know, maybe when we were babysitting the devil?"

He lost his grin, grunting, "Um, you look flushed, let me get you some water."

"Not so fast," she pulled on his hand as he tried to leave, "You liar…." She playfully pulled him towards her, "You do want a boy…"

He lingered closer to her slightly rolling his eyes, "Maybe…"

"Well he better be just as charming and sweet as you, I don't want any snakes and worms on mothers day."

"No just barbeque chips and orange soda," he giggled before crashing his lips into hers. His lips traveled down her neck where every second she giggled filled him with happiness. It was moments like these that he knew there was a reason he came back from the dead…to have this, to have this with _her._

"Okay," he pulled away with a goofy smile, "So…" He glanced his eyes down at the food.

"Soo…" She teased where her hands motioned for the grapes and she began to seductively put grape after grape in her mouth.

He intriguingly stared at her, mesmerized by this sweet yet irresistible female in front of him, "You keep going at that rate and I'll have to call room service again."

"Shut up," she playfully threw a grape at him.

"Oooh the Jackal hit a button."

"Oh!" She giggled loudly, "The Jackal is going to hit more than just a button if he keeps cracking all these jokes about the mother of his child!" She threw grape after grape at him.

"Hey!" He caught the grape before playfully pointing at her in a serious voice, "You cut that out blonde one."

"Or else?" She eyed the grape in her hands.

"Or else…" He thought for a second until he turned to the pancakes and cut into them.

"That is cruel," she said as he slowly put the fork on his mouth and moaned at how good the cake and whip cream tasted.

He shrugged his shoulders as he chewed, "I hate to tease a pregnant woman such as yourself of her most favorite food, but if I have to…"

She raised her hand, gripping the grape where he innocently threatened with another forkfill of pancakes, "I will…" He said as he brought the fork to his mouth, "Damn these are good pancakes."

She instantly threw the grape at him where he giggled, popped the grape in his mouth and then pulled her into a kiss. Her tongue licked the little bit of whip cream in the corner of her mouth, desiring so much for a taste. Luckily for her, he was there.

An hour later she walked him to the door in her robe where she found herself wanting him to stay, "Spinelli…" She pulled on his tie bringing their lips together.

"Max-the sooner I go," he pulled away from her completely, his hands gripping the doorknob, "The sooner I'll be back."

She grunted in annoyance, "Spiiiinnnnellliiii."

"Shh," he leaned forward to kiss her cheek, "I'll stop by the office around noon and we'll get lunch or…" He paused seeing her unlikely face that she would want that after barely being able to eat the pancakes that they fed each other.

"You can watch," he amusingly smiled.

"Oh thanks," she sarcastically giggled, "Thanks for the support Mr. Jackal."

"Oh your welcome," he wrapped his arms around her waist, "Your very welcome," he pushed her hair back, "Ms. Jones." They kissed once more and then she grunted as he tried to pull away, "You better go then…"

"Don't be such a grouch," he kissed her cheek, "I'll see you later." He kissed her head and then left where as soon as the door closed Maxie opened her hand at the scrunched up pink slip. She unraveled it, read the message, and sighed. She knew deep down that if Jason was contacting him, it must be important and she knew that Spinelli wouldn't be the man she loved if he wasn't thinking about how he wanted to help his dear friend. But as timing would have it, before she could even begin to think of how to put Jaspin back together, she was hit by nausea.

"Gr-ea-t," she sprinted to the bathroom where the inevitable morning sickness came. Minutes later she spread her hands along the counter with her head down, "You just…" She slowly grazed her hand over her waist; "You just aren't going to make this easy on me are you?" She humored herself at the fact that she was talking to something that was about the size of a grape.

XOXOX

"So Spinelli," Jax smiled in his Aussie charm as Spinelli took a seat in the conference room, "Why do you want to work for me again?"

Spinelli grinned, "Plain and Simple Mr. Jacks, my priorities have changed, family comes first."

"Family you say?" Jax curiously eyed him wondering when Maxie was considered family.

Spinelli excitedly smiled, "The Jackal is going to have a wee one in seven months."

Jax stared at him surprised, yet thrilled for him in a jealous nature of how much he wanted a child of his own, "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Spinelli nodded where he pulled his chair forward, "I have to do right by them and leave the business that I have grown to admire with Stone Cold."

Jax crossed his arms impressed, "That takes a lot of…well a lot of guts Spinelli."

"Please," Spinelli held his hand out, "Call me Damian."

Jax awkwardly looked at him, "Damian?"

"It's more professional and now is a time where I have to become professional."

"Yes I can tell by the suit, nice touch."

"Thank you, Maximista agreed."

Jax chuckled, "How is Maxie dealing with the pregnancy?"

Spinelli shrugged his shoulders not exactly sure of how to answer the question, "She's trying to adapt to the idea."

"She's not thrilled that it's probably the reason you're leaving your life in the mob?"

Spinelli negatively nodded, "Actually she said the Jackal could continue to work for Stone Cold, but I know, I know that I can't live that life anymore, it's time for a new adventure."

Jax agreed, "Good choice Spinelli. That's precisely the man I'm looking for in this job. A man who knows what's right in his gut, who can make smart and quick decisions without needing aid."

Spinelli confidently smiled, "So what do you have in mind?"

"Well, unfortunately there are no jobs available here in the hotel unless you want to work at Crimson under communication," Jax suggested, thinking that he might enjoy working on the same floor.

"No," Spinelli quickly nodded, "That is Maximista's forte."

"Okay then," Jax then looked down at his folder, "I figured you might say no to that so I have one other offer." He slid the file forward and opened it, "Damian, my European offices are losing significant amounts of profits."

"If the Jackal may so bravely ask, how is that possible? Europe is the most visited location in the world."

"Your right and I have no idea why which is why I want to hire you as VP of communications in Italy, my grandest hotel."

"Um," Spinelli awkwardly chuckled, "That's in Italy."

"Yes, but it would only be Monday thru Wednesday. You'll be flying back and forth on one of my jets and I'll accommodate your living arrangements at a friend's house."

"Bodacious Brenda?" Spinelli guess remembering once that Carly had asked him to look up the whereabouts of the White Knight and he had been there.

Jax nodded, "She's a good friend, lives very close to the city and it will look less obvious that I'm trying to see which one of my clients is stealing money from me if your not staying at the hotel."

"So this is primarily a PI job then?" Spinelli curiously asked for clarification.

"Yes and no. You'll still need to perform the VP of communications job and with my head of communications getting to the age of retirement in a few months, I'd love for you to take over if you can handle the job."

"We'll see."

"Understood. On Thursdays and part time on Fridays you'll be working here. You'll have an office on my communications floor with other heads who run my hotels in Hong Kong and here within the United States."

"And pay?"

"Well you'll be working two jobs at about 35-40 hours a week, how does 375 dollars an hour sound?"

Spinelli did the mental math in seconds, it was 15,000 a week, 15,000 times 4 was 60 grand a month 60 grand times 7 months was 420 grand. By the time the baby would arrive he could put a down payment on a house, buy Maximista her dream car and set up a college fund for his progeny. He could do all of this with clean money.

"You know Stone Cold paid me just a little bit more to do what you're basically asking me to do and I worked less hours."

Jax cocked his head at the way the youngster was debating this, "But what you did for Jason…"

"Was illegal, yes, but your asking me to basically do the same thing because the Jackal will need to provide proof won't he?"

Jax fidgeted in his chair knowing that he would indeed be asked for evidence, which would be bank records and therefore require hacking.

"Spinelli," Jax straightened himself up in the chair, "I could hire many private eyes."

Spinelli stood up from the chair, "Well I'm sure Maxie would much rather prefer me here than seven hours away."

Jax watched as he walked to the door, "Fine."

Spinelli turned to him, "Fine?"

Jax annoyingly looked at him, "Fine." He rose up from his chair and approached Spinelli in a powerful manner, "But I swear, you screw up just this much," Jax pinched his fingers together. "You involve Sonny and Jason," he stopped just in front of Spinelli who was now pinned against a wall, "You involve the mob and there'll be hell to pay for bringing that kind scrutiny under my business."

Spinelli snarled at him, "You don't seem to understand who you're working with, I'm a pro."

Jax chuckled, "Spinelli, you're a smart man, but I've seen you in action, you're not..."

"Not what?" Spinelli glanced up agitated where his attitude stuttered Jax, "Let me clear something up with you Mr. Jacks, I'm not the blithering idiot that used to walk this town."

"Of course not," Jax chuckled awkwardly looking away from him.

"You heard how I handled myself on Pier 52 and that was before I gained my street smarts back," Spinelli goofily poked at his head, "With the Jackal and Damian, alive and working together, you're going to get the best Private Eye on this side of the east coast."

Jax looked up at him with an excitement at this new man that Spinelli had presented to him, "I hope so. I want an answer to this problem as soon as possible and don't mention this to Carly."

Spinelli nodded, "Understood and perhaps for right now you should just tell Maximista that you indeed gave me a job, but nothing specific."

"Deal," Jax held out his hand.

Spinelli smiled just as brightly, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Jax shook his hand and then turned back to the table, "Let's finish these last details up and I'll by you a drink Papa Damian."

"Sounds good sir."

"Spin-Damian," Jax honestly looked up at him, "You don't have to call me sir like you called Sonny or even Jason, a simple Jax will do."

Spinelli nodded as he took his seat, "My apologies Jax."

Jax quietly chuckled as he looked back down at the folder with a contract in it, "So how about I pay you 700 hundred an hour with an entitled twenty thousand dollar bonus if you can figure out which SOB is robbing me in a month."

"That's more than my asking price?" Spinelli seriously looked at him taken back, it was almost too generous.

"Yes, but I'm losing millions. I need this problem to leave just as quiet as it entered my life."

Spinelli nodded, "Alright, if that's what you want to pay me, how can I refuse?"

Jax handed him the pen, "How soon do you think you can start?"

Spinelli hastily looked down at the line he was just about to sign, "I'd like to put off the trips to Italy for at least two weeks. Maximista is a little vulnerable at the moment."

Jax giggled, "I know that feeling, before Carly…" He paused thinking of the miscarriage, "Before she miscarried, she was feeling about a dozen feelings."

Spinelli nodded, "Yes, that is Maximista at the moment."

Jax laughed, "Well I hope you two find all he happiness in the world."

Spinelli signed the dotted line, "I think we will."

Jax took the pen from him, "I'll have Diane and Alexis look this over and then I'll work quickly on getting an office for you."

Spinelli stood up from the chair, "Thank you."

"In the meantime," Jax reached into his pocket, "You can work at your new penthouse."

Spinelli stopped breathing for a moment as keys dangled in front of him, "Penthouse?"

"Well you can't live at Jason's for the rest of your life and I don't know what you and Maxie have talked about for living arrangements, but I do know that Carly and I are very stable right now…" Jax put the keys in Spinelli's hand, "I don't think I'll be needing this anymore."

Spinelli surprisingly looked at him, "I don't know what to say?"

Jax chuckled, "A simple thank you will do."

"Thank you Jax," Spinelli sincerely said, looking up from the keys, "I have a feeling I'll be saying that a lot."

XOXOX

Kate diligently worked in her office when she heard the second assistant welcoming the first assistant. Curious about yesterday and the big question if her number one assistant would be going on maternity leave in a few months, Kate put her finger over the answering machine and called Maxie in.

The second assistant looked at Maxie with worry, "She's a little cranky this morning."

Maxie slowly nodded thanking her for the warning. She put her purse down, grabbed a small stack of folders and then scarcely entered Kate's office.

"Maxie," Kate brightly smiled at her as Maxie closed the door behind her slightly nervous.

"What's wrong?" Kate quickly asked setting her hands on her hips as she stood at the desk.

"Uh…" Maxie stuttered realizing that Kate was actually in a better mood than the assistant had led on.

"It's okay Maxie," Kate goofily smiled thinking back to when she and Jax ran into her and Spinelli in the elevator.

Maxie looked at her slightly confused where Kate just smiled more, "Maxie you don't have to be embarrassed about yesterday."

Maxie rolled her eyes, giggling, "Oh."

"Yeah," Kate laughed, "Come on sit down." Kate motioned, taking the folders from her.

Maxie sat down feeling embarrassed still for Spinelli and her had been acting like two crazy teenagers in the elevator.

"So…" Kate smirked as she sat down, "How did your evening go?"

"Uh," Maxie slightly giggled at Kate's bluntness.

"I'm sorry Maxie," Kate smiled, "It's none of my business."

Maxie awkwardly smiled as Kate was changing topics, "It went well."

Kate stopped what she was doing and looked up at Maxie, "Good."

"Yeah," Maxie happily sighed, "Things are relatively back to normal."

"That's wonderful," Kate smiled while pushing the files in front of her to the side and leaning forward, "And was that pleasant evening inspired by a certain doctor's visit?" Kate raised her eyebrow knowing either way the news of the said doctor's appointment would inspire sex.

Maxie slightly nodded her head yes with a small smile of happiness forming on her mouth, "Yes…"

Kate intriguingly smiled, "So am I going to have to track down Lulu to take over while you're on maternity leave?"

Maxie paused with her mouth in a small smile of giggles, "Well if that's who you want to hire." Maxie shrugged a happy glow to her.

"Aw congratulations!" Kate got up from her desk and walked around to give Maxie, who was glowing, a hug.

Maxie had to admit that she was surprised Kate was so excited for her. She had pondered the thought of Kate firing her weeks ago, but it was very apparent that Kate didn't seem to mind at all.

"Really?" Maxie asked as she leaned out of this hug, feeling like Kate was a motherly figure at the moment.

Kate smiled brightly, "Yeah! You're going to have a baby!" Kate walked back around her desk, "I can't tell you how many times I wished I had put my career aside to have children."

"Really?" Maxie asked feeling like Kate was never the type to actually want children.

Kate stood at her desk putting her hands on her hips while consuming her thoughts with a memory she hadn't thought of in a good ten years, "Maxie," she seriously looked at her.

Maxie was slightly concerned by her boss's serious, but obviously tender moment she was having. The way Kate had looked off to the side before seriously calling her name, gave Maxie an insight about the woman before her, an insight she perhaps never thought existed.

"You're lucky," Kate uttered where Maxie disagreed, "But…"

"But what?" Kate snapped, "What are you worried about Maxie? Your career?"

Maxie nodded while still a little offended by her boss's harshness, "And my dad, he's going to kill Spinelli…"

Kate chuckled before slightly wiping away a tear falling from her eyes, "Well I can't help you with your father, but as for your career. Your job will be waiting for you when you return and if a day comes that you are offered a better job to further yourself in the world of fashion, I'll write you a letter of recommendation that will make them feel like idiots if they don't hire you."

Maxie looked at her in awe, in complete and utter awe at Kate's kindness that she always knew was there, but was sometimes clouded by her powerful behavior, "Thank you."

Kate nodded and then picked up the phone, "Now if it's alright with you, I think we should celebrate," she glanced away from Maxie to the numbers on the phone where just as she began to dial the Metro Court, the second assistant burst in.

"Ms. Howard! Marty at the front desk just called to say the Giselle and the investors are on their way up!"

Maxie glanced away from the assistant to Kate who quickly spoke into the phone, "Cancel the reservation," and then hung up the phone to look at her desk calendar.

"Giselle is just determined to put us under," Kate gritted her teeth at the pot-it that read the meeting's time at five in the metro court, but was now going to take place at noon.

"This was Carly's doing, I'm sure of it," Kate angrily looked up at her assistant, "Go find Jax."

"Kate, he's probably with Spinelli…They were supposed to have a meeting a few hours ago," Maxie nervously told her, but knew the information might help.

"Then check the board rooms and the restaurant, here…" Kate reached for her phone and then quickly walked it over to the assistant, "Call him and if Mr. Spinelli is with him, bring him too."

As soon as the assistant ran off, Kate closed the doors to her office and then turned to Maxie who looked confused as to why Spinelli was needed, "Maxie, I'm going to be very honest with you."

Maxie watched as Kate seriously walked over to her, becoming her boss again, "These people, Warren and the investors, they know a lot about you."

"They do?" Maxie surprisingly looked at her wondering what exactly she meant.

"Yes," Kate grabbed her hand and brought her to the couch.

"Maxie," Kate softly looked up at her, "They know you're an essential part of this magazine."

"No," Maxie quickly nodded her head, but Kate interrupted, nodding her head positively, "Yes you are and while you know that I am happy for you and Spinelli, these people aren't exactly going to turned on to the fact that your going to be a mother in the next couple of months."

Maxie froze her smile wondering why she expected anything different. She looked off to the side disappointed that Kate's welcoming to the idea would be a rare formality.

"Maxie?" Kate gently touched Maxie's shoulder, "I'm telling you this so that when you amaze them with your knowledge of fashion and Warren or one of the other execs wants to offer you weekly internships at the world's biggest fashion shows, that you don't accidentally say something that could…you know."

"Yeah I know," Maxie slowly nodded before looking up at her, "Thanks I guess."

"Maxie don't give me that look," Kate frowned. "I hate that this still exists too, but look at it this way, they can't fire you once your hired. During the time you can prove to them as you've proven to me that you can balance the personal life with the work life."

"I suppose," Maxie slowly smiled.

"And we both know how much you like to prove things to people…" Kate chuckled thinking about the months she and Lulu were at each other.

"Yes," Maxie rolled her eyes.

"Exactly, so," Kate got up from the couch, "let's go into this meeting as smart career women ready to take on these…."

"Kate darling!" Warren's voice echoed outside her office.

Kate looked at the doors of her office and then back at Maxie, "Let's hope Jax and Spinelli get here soon."

Maxie laughed getting up from the couch, "Why Spinelli?"

"Because Giselle adores him," Kate humored as they walked to the doors, "Perhaps he can work the charm he did at the Haunted Star."

"Kate," Maxie seriously looked at her not exactly comfortable where she was heading with this.

Kate looked at her slightly appalled, "I don't expect him to take her out on a date or something, but a little flirtation could be good for not only her, but your sex life."

Kate's giggling about the elevator only brought a smirk to Maxie's face, "Oh shush."

"Come on junior Glacial One," Kate teased where Maxie looked at her now appalled, "I have a good memory for the things Spinelli says about me."

They amusingly laughed where they heard Warren calling her name once more, "Coming Warren," she opened the door and hoped that this sudden meeting wouldn't turn sour.

XOXOXOX

"That is quite impressive Ms. Jones," Warren smiled before looking at his associates behind him, "She planned an entire layout, Kate," he looked up at her, "I think I'm going to have to steel her for Couture's next issue."

Kate widely grinned, "If you must! As long as I get her back for our summer issues…"

"Oh please," Giselle rolled her eyes, "No offense Ms. Jones, there's no doubt that you have great instincts, but this isn't work of genius here." Giselle looked around at the empty office, "Any girl her age who reads fashion magazines can come up with these ideas."

"Giselle," Warren displeasingly looked down to her, "I do remember Crimson having higher numbers this month than you at Vogue."

"That's for sure," Jax ringed into the room where Kate sighed in relief, "Jax great of you to make it."

"Well," he charmingly smiled, "I would have been here sooner had I known we were going to meet up earlier."

Giselle amusing smiled knowing the blame was falling on her, "Well you know nothing is ever final in our industry, plans change."

"Indeed," Kate glanced at her, "Which is precisely why I knew I could trust Maxie here with the layouts of Crimson, while I was with my fiancée."

"Risky," Giselle pondered before looking at the latest cover of Crimson hanging up, "But well worth it I suppose."

"You suppose?" Jax retorted, "If it wasn't for Maxie I'm not sure this magazine could have stayed a float, she's offered advice that appeal to our target audience."

Warren and the other executives looked at each other speechless for the fashion editor of Vogue had her mouth shut.

"Furthermore," Jax walked further into the room positioning himself next to Maxie, "I would hate to lose her to anyone else, she's quite an important investment that I'm glad Kate has decided to make her protégé."

"Why thank you Jax," Kate smiled, "But Maxie can be on loan for certain events like Paris Fashion week or Victoria Secret's show, I'm sure she'd be a great assistant to Heidi Klum."

Maxie quickly looked at her wondering what she was thinking recommending her to someone as a legend like Heidi Klum.

Warren chuckled seeing Maxie's giddiness, "I presume you're a fan Ms. Jones?"

"Well yes, but I mean if I had to choose Paris Fashion week over Victoria Secret or meeting and working for Heidi Klum, I…I…"

Kate gently touched Maxie's shoulder, "What Maxie means to say is that she would be thankful for any opportunity she's given and would take full advantage of it."

"Yes," Maxie calmly nodded.

"Well I'd love to make a call on her behalf Kate," Warren excitedly smiled, "You seem like a very nice, smart girl, strikingly beautiful."

"Oh Warren," Kate teased his admirations of Maxie.

"I'm serious Kate, she looks like quite the investment," Warren winked sending the crowd into amusing laughs except for Giselle who looked off into the distance where she saw the elevator opening.

"Is the maternal one ready for a lunch break?" Spinelli spouted off in a perky energetic mood.

Maxie quickly broke eye contact with those around her to Spinelli who was entering the room as if she was the only one in the room, "Maximista…"

"Damian?" Giselle surprisingly called his name not at all noticing the staring contest between him and Maxie.

Spinelli looked over to her with a polite smile, "Hello," and then glanced back at Maxie. "You ready to go or do you want me to come back later?"

Maxie had never felt more nervous or pressured in this moment. If she acknowledged Spinelli than all the good she had done promoting herself would go to waste and if she ignored Spinelli it might hurt him in a way that he would never forgive her.

"Maxie darling do you know this man?" Warren looked away from Spinelli to Maxie whose eyes on Spinelli gave a clear signal to him as to what she wanted.

"No not really," Spinelli looked up at Warren, "I saved her life a few months ago and every now and then when I'm in the building I like to check up on her," he glanced at Maxie with his eyes hurtful at her, "See if she's okay." He looked back at Warren, "I have nicknames for everyone, and Maximista is just the silly nickname I have for her."

"Oh just like maternal one?" Warren amused, as did the executives behind him.

Spinelli crossed his arms offended, "What if it was?"

"Well I just didn't think Ms. Jones had any children," Warren looked at Maxie whom she gave a scarce 'no' to.

"What if she did?" Spinelli stepped forward, "Would that be a problem for you?"

Warren chuckled, "Well it is good to know before we hire someone…"

"Why? Would you some how think that if Ms. Jones," he glanced at her and then back at Warren, "Was pregnant that she wouldn't be able to handle her job as any other woman would?"

Warren disbelievingly looked up at Kate and Jax where Spinelli interrupted him, "Don't look at them, look at me. You know it would be direct violation of title seven of the civil rights act of 1964 which states that no employer can deny a woman a job if she is pregnant nor can the employer fire her."

Spinelli paused as he could see his little speech obviously shocked Warren, "Yeah I was pre-law student at NYU, look it up."

As soon as Spinelli got out of his face and backtracked next to Giselle, Warren angrily, but calmly spitted, "I am fully aware of the laws Mister…whoever the hell you are, Kate…" Warren annoyingly looked up at her, "Who is this man and why is he standing in front of me?"

"Damian Spinelli. He's my VP of communications in Europe," Jax interrupted stepping forward, "He was here to fix a glitch in our computer systems, sometimes he does tech work for the magazine and my hotel."

"Aw I see," Warren examined him from head to toe, "Well if you didn't look so charming in that suit I'd suggest a better man to handle your affairs."

"On the contrary Warren," Giselle walked forward wrapping her arm around his, "The last time I was here, Mr. Spinelli was quite a gentlemen."

"You've been with this man?" Warren looked quite surprisingly at her.

"Yes, I mean he had an Aussie accent when he took me out on the town…"

"Well Giselle," Spinelli glanced down at her, "If I have to be honest I was just trying to impress you."

"You were? You weren't trying to impress Ms. Jones?"

Spinelli glanced at Maxie looking into her eyes, "No, I wasn't."

"You weren't?" She looked at him confused for she had read things about them in the papers.

"Nope, you were the only gal I saw in the room that night, my only regret is that I was forced to leave early and I never got your number."

"Oh well you should have just asked Kate," she glanced at Kate who forcefully smiled.

"I wanted to, but I felt like a fool for leaving the way I did, drunk and then it wasn't much time after that I was shot…"

"I heard about that," Giselle quickly touched his chest, lighting Maxie up like a fire cracker, "And I heard about your recent surgery too."

Spinelli nodded, "Yes, I suppose Warren," he looked up at him, "That's why I mixed up the nicknames, one of the side effects of my surgery is mixing up names, I apologize, but…" He glanced back at Giselle, "I never forgot your name or your angelic face."

"Oh Damian," Giselle looked at him with shimmering eyes.

"Would you like to go back to the Haunted Star and rekindle that flame?" Spinelli taunted her with eyes that made her blush.

"Your not with anyone? I thought I heard…"

"Your heard wrong," Spinelli slowly smiled charmingly at her where Giselle uncomfortably looked at Maxie who seemed to be quietly getting upset.

"Ms. Jones and I are just friends, good friends right?" He looked over his shoulder where she nodded.

"So you two aren't together?" Giselle asked believing something wasn't right.

"No," he looked at her, "We decided it was better we stay friends, now what do you say?"

Giselle couldn't get past his smile, "I say her loss."

"Yes, her loss," he tried to smile with the same enthusiasm, but felt him consciously slipping.

Kate could almost see visible tears in Maxie's eyes as could Jax, but luckily for Maxie Warren and the executives had been too focused on Giselle losing herself to a man to notice her behavior.

"Great that settles it!" Kate clapped her hands before quickly wrapping her arm around Warren's, "Why don't we finish this meeting downstairs at the Metro Court."

"Sounds like a great plan," Jax looked at Giselle, "You will join us right?"

Giselle looked back at Spinelli waiting for him to give her a reason not to leave, but thankfully Jax stepped in saying, "Spinelli has a problem to fix in our systems that Maxie has to show him so they'll be too busy to join us."

"Aw that's too bad," Giselle whined.

"I'll let you know about tonight," Spinelli kissed her cheek and then handed her over to Jax.

By the time he glanced at Maxie she had made herself discrete in Kate's office. When the elevator doors closed, he softly uttered, "Damn." He took his suit jacket off and placed around her chair and then hesitantly put his hand on the doorknob. When he slowly opened the door, he saw her sitting on the couch, tissues in hand, and he couldn't have felt anymore stupid or hurtful for his behavior.

"I'm sorry," he apologized like it was his entire fault even though it was he believed it was partial.

"You're sorry?!" She looked up at him where her eyes that were red with tears made him choke. "For which part?" She quickly stood up, "For almost announcing to the people I want to work for someday that I'm pregnant!"

"Maxie calm down," he honestly looked at her being concerned that her emotions would send her to pass out.

"I will not calm down!" She walked towards him, "How could you flirt with her and ask her out? Huh?" She stopped in her tracks, "How could you act like we are nothing?"

"Well what was I supposed to do?" He walked towards her, "I walk into the room wanting to tell you the great job Jax offered me, which let me remind you, I'm taking for you, for us, for our family and before I make it through the elevator it's like you don't even know me!"

"I told you," she stopped in her tracks whining, "That I wanted to keep this to ourselves" she softly whispered wishing he could have done that.

He stood their exasperated, "And for how long? Until you begin to show?"

"What are you implying?" She hurtfully looked at him where he looked at her like she fully knew.

"You're ashamed of me," he said point blank.

"No," she walked towards him "No I can't believe you would say that after everything, Spinelli!"

"Well then WHAT is it!" He shouted, "Because it was pretty fucking embarrassing to stand there and have you treat me like some freak." He turned to the side with his hands on his hips, "Maybe I'm not the same guy that woke up from that hospital bed, but I don't deserve to be treated like that…and you sure as hell don't deserve to have that schmuck talk down to you as if you being pregnant would be abomination to the fashion industry."

"That's who I want to work for," she pouted with attitude like he would have to accept it.

"And disrespect yourself!" He shouted where she threw a fit yelling, "Just go talk to Jason!"

"Maybe I will!" He drew back to the door, "And maybe while I'm there I'll ask for my job back!"

"I never asked you to give up Jason!"

"Yeah you did!" He looked at her point blank, "You do every time I leave. You look at me as if it's the last time your going to see me…" He shook his head with anger as his hands rested on his hips, "And I don't want you to have to feel like that!"

She tenderly observed the frustrations on his face, his insecurities so plainly drawn out.

"I want you to feel safe," he glanced up at her, "I want you to feel that I'm safe."

She gently bit her lip as he expressed time and time again who he was becoming for her.

"I want to be here for you and for our child, but," he turned away from her, "If you don't want me to, if you want me to leave you like your father left you and your mother, I…" He slowly nodded negatively at the thought. "I'll hate it, but I will." He stared down at the door handle his hand grabbed and waited for her to intervene. She didn't and he left.

XOXOXOX

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, so sorry it's taken so long to update this story, I've just been so busy with school that I really can't balance this and school. Luckily I'm done for the summer and I did well in school so now I can devote my time to this. I ask that if you still want to see this story reach its ultimate end that you review. I just need a little feedback saying something; it can be positive or negative. If no one wants me to finish it then I'll wrap up the story, but I really love what I've got going. Anyway thanks, hope u all are doing fantastic.

Next Chapter: Damian is revealed, Maxie spills the secret to Jason and Mac gets angry.


	28. Love and peace or else

Author's Note: Hey! Well here's another update, thanks to those who reviewed. I really do appreciate the reviews, I like to know that I'm doing something right! This chapter has some spixie smut, so this chapter is rated M or R lol. It's not too bad, but suggestive material. There's a little Jolu in this chapter, hope you don't mind! Enjoy!

Chapter 28

"Love and peace or else"

He stood at the only place that was home to him, 122 Harbor View Drive. He lost the suit, wearing jeans, a white black shirt and a brown leather jacket. He stepped forward holding a duffel bag, formed a fist and knocked on the door. He felt the gush of air as the door opened. His eyes set on his master and then walked through the doorway when he motioned for him to come in. Spinelli dropped the bag in front of the couch and then stared at the place in nostalgia. It had been weeks if not months since he had entered the sacred penthouse.

"There's orange soda and barbeque chips in the fridge," Jason noted for Spinelli as he stood before the couch and looked around the place, "Spinelli it hasn't changed."

Spinelli looked over his shoulder and then turned to him fully, "Yes it has. It is scientifically and fundamentally impossible for things to stay the same."

Jason's eyes grew confused, "Okay..."

Spinelli huffed in a bit of embarrassment, "Sorry Stone Cold um…" He glanced up with a small smile, "how can the Jackal be of help?"

"Spinelli," Jason started with hesitation, "You don't have to do this, I don't want to cause you any trouble...in fact," he motioned to the door.

"I'm HERE, aren't I?" He looked at Jason agitated, "Look you can get any guy to hack into security footage or look up someone's bank records, but you contacted me, which means you need something only I can get you."

Jason stood amazed; he hadn't spoken to Spinelli since before his surgery. The drive he saw before him was like nothing he had ever seen come from the young man. Spinelli, the Jackal, was a kinder soul, but never the less always serious and semi-focused. The kid in front of him though, was angry and harsh yet had a chip of sadness on his shoulder. If Jason didn't know any better, Damian Spinelli reminded him of his first days as Jason Morgan. He stood with attitude. He wore the jacket. He looked the look and talked the talk. It was a relief, but a nightmare. He had become trustworthy enough for the work he always wanted, but the absence of the innocent nerd from Oakfield, Tennessee was another example of the effects the _biz _had on even the best of people.

"It's Karpov."

"And."

"AND," Jason raised his voice, "I need to know what went down at every meeting he's ever held with someone."

Spinelli confusingly looked at him, "We already went through this."

"Well," Jason departed from him to the closet, "I need you to look through it again."

"I don't understand."

Jason nodded, "Karpov has begun to make a move on my territory," he grabbed the metal box.

"With Sonny's help," Spinelli uttered disappointedly where Jason stopped his movements, "You need to watch your mouth."

"So you believe it too?" Spinelli stared at him knowing the information he found weeks ago was proof of betrayal.

Jason pouted while grabbing the gun from the box. He set the box on the shelf, closed the door and then removed the clip.

The silent treatment was eating Spinelli up, he didn't understand why his master was making ignorant decisions, "I warned you about this, did I not?" He faintly thought back to when they got the Asian ague.

"I have my suspicions."

"Then why are we ignoring this!" Spinelli shouted where Jason quickly yelled, "HEY! WE are not ignoring this because there is no WE. Now I asked you to come over because in exactly two hours I will be meeting with Karpov alone."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't think for Elizabeth's sake or Jake's or Carly's or the rest of us that you bring guards along?"

"I work alon-e."

"No," Spinelli interrupted, "We work together."

Jason huffed in annoyance, "You are going to sit down, open that computer and take this for what it is."

"And what is that?"

"A favor," and like that Jason made his way for the stairs.

"I'll always do a favor for you Jason," Spinelli quietly uttered before looking over his shoulder at his master stopped in his tracks.

"I appreciate…"

"My loyalty is to you Stone Cold," Spinelli fully turned to him with a soft smile, "And I beg of you not to let your loyalty to the former godfather, be the end of you."

Jason stood in the middle of the stairs, staring at Spinelli who grabbed his laptop and sat on the couch.

"Thank you," was all Spinelli heard before his master left the premise. Spinelli took his duffel bag and brought it upstairs to his closet and then walked back down to his laptop where he word hard for an hour until he heard a knock from the door. Spinelli looked at the door and then up at the stairs as the knock grew more frantic. He pondered opening the door for it was most likely Bernie, but with Jason trying to keep his involvement to a minimum it was better no one knew he was here.

"Spinelli!" Jason shouted from the stairs, "Get the door for god's sake!"

Spinelli looked over his shoulder to see Jason in black pants and a light blue dress shirt, "A little dressy don't you think?"

"Answer the door," Jason looked unamused as he put his black dress jacket on.

Spinelli jokingly laughed, "I think Elizabeth will approve."

"Really?" Jason said before realizing he had fallen into Spinelli's trap.

"Not funny," Jason annoyingly nodded at him.

Spinelli chuckled until he reached the door where his eye caught the peephole.

"Spinelli who is it?" Jason looked up from adjusting his suit.

Spinelli walked back to the couch unresponsive to Jason's annoyance, "Spinelli…"

"Um," Spinelli looked back at the screen, "Karpov hasn't arrived at the warehouse yet, but his guards have."

Jason caught Spinelli's hinting glare, "I don't need guards."

"Stone Cold, I mean…Please reconsider," Spinelli worryingly stared at him, but Jason negatively nodded, "Spinelli, his people are probably making sure the place is secured, just like my people. The agreement was to meet alone. You are going to keep me informed that the warehouse stays abandoned."

Spinelli annoyingly disagreed by looking back at his screen, "The meeting is in an hour, shouldn't he have arrived already?"

"Not necessarily, do you know where he is now?"

Spinelli looked away slightly biting his lip, "God Father."

"Spinelli," Jason stood annoyed with his hands on his hips, "I know you disagree about Sonny's intentions, but you can't just say things without proof."

Spinelli sighed, "He arrived ten minutes ago," he adjusted his laptop so Jason could see the security footage.

Jason slowly walked over to the couch, "Rewind."

Ten seconds replayed over and over again of Karpov entering the house. Spinelli watched as Jason upsettingly saw Sonny and Andrew greet with a handshake.

"Keep this quiet."

Spinelli looked at Jason, "I can plant a bug for next time."

"No," Jason nodded as his eyes narrowed in on the repetitive footage.

"I wouldn't have to break in."

"No," Jason frustratingly turned away.

"Why?" Spinelli looked up at Jason who stood up from the couch.

"Because there isn't going to be a next time!" Jason quickly walked to the desk where just as he was about to clarify himself, a knocking followed by a whiny impatient voice, sounded over.

"Jason! Is Spinelli there! Spinelli if you're in there we need to talk!"

Jason glanced at Spinelli who was suddenly glued at his computer.

"Please!"

Jason studied Spinelli's reaction to an obviously upset Maxie, "You want me to let her in?"

"Do you want me focused?" Spinelli snickered.

Jason was taken back by the simple words that Spinelli had twisted, but at the same time, he knew it was only right that he answer the cries of the blonde tart.

"Jason!" Maxie worriedly looked at him with tears in her eyes, "Is Spinelli here? I won't be very long, I just…" She paused as Jason creaked the door open wide.

"Spin-elli," she sighed in relief at the sight of him, but choked when he didn't acknowledge her.

The air suddenly felt thicker to Jason and so as he glanced back and forth at Spinelli and Maxie he decided he needed to give them space, "I'm going to finish getting ready."

Spinelli pouted at his departure for he wanted to use Jason as a shield from seeing his crumbling Maximista.

"Spinelli," she softly called his name once Jason had left the room.

The silence he gave her, intimidating as it was, didn't prevent her from approaching him.

As she took a place next to him on the couch he tensed up, he tensed up to the point where he feared her touch. When she motioned to touch his shoulder and he heaved away from her that was when she felt the ultimate affects of their miscommunication earlier. Couldn't he understand that she was vulnerable? Scared? And…happy.

"It…It was a fight Spinelli…people fight…they disagree," she explained, but he remained ignorant to her somber words.

Jason's footsteps sounded and Maxie leaned away from Spinelli who seemed to almost of been listening.

"Spinelli!" Jason rushed from the stairs, "Is this an okay color?"

"Okay?" Maxie smiled with surprise, "It matches your eyes perfectly."

Jason surprisingly grinned at her, "Spinelli?"

Spinelli chuckled, "You look great Stone Cold."

"Really?" Jason looked at them unsure of himself.

Maxie nodded, "Yes, Elizabeth will like it."

"Um," Jason looked at her confused as did Spinelli who wondered how she could have known, was he that obvious?

"Jason," Maxie got up from the couch where she stopped to fix his collar, "I never compliment you on anything, so take it from me, a girl," she undid the first button, "You look hot."

Although Spinelli couldn't help but be jealous at the seductive attention Stone Cold was getting, he had to laugh at how uncomfortable it made Jason feel.

"Right," Jason politely smiled and then walked to his desk, "Um. I don't mind that you're here Maxie, just don't distract Spinelli too much."

Maxie nervously blushed feeling her heart in her throat, "I won't, I promise." She glanced at Spinelli to see he was looking at her.

"Alright," Jason looked away from the to load a clip into his pistol, "I need you to keep me informed of that information we discussed."

Spinelli nodded, "Sure thing."

"Okay good," Jason smiled confidently before picking up the phone to talk to Bernie.

Maxie apologetically looked at Spinelli who couldn't help but apologetically smile at her. He motioned for her to join him and she overwhelmingly brought herself over to the couch.

"Bernie, it's all set, I've got Spinelli…" Jason tampered off as he saw Maxie leaning on the couch holding the hand of the Jackal.

"Spinelli," Maxie bit her lip.

"Yeah, um," Spinelli glanced away from her, "whatever," he looked at his computer screen and then reluctantly looked over his shoulder to give her a frail smile. Overjoyed that he was even giving her the time of day, she leaned in kissing his cheek.

"Bernie," Jason hushed, "I'll be there soon, if something goes wrong you contact Spinelli, he'll find me."

Jason put the phone down and turned to see Maxie stroking Spinelli's hair, "Like I said, Maxie, I don't mind if you're here, but don't distract that man there." Jason glared at Spinelli who still seemed bothered by her presence, "Spinelli," he snapped his fingers, "Focus! I can't afford to have this go wrong."

"I know," Spinelli nodded, "I'm your man."

"Your more than that today, you're my second, second in command," Jason gave him the title as a test, but also as a maneuver to get Spinelli as focused as possible.

The look on Spinelli's face, the opportunity for trust and power on an entirely different level was the appeal that Maxie was worried about. The drive in his eyes, the thirst in his lips and the eagerness in his hands, were the behaviors of a man who still wanted to desperately hold on to the adrenaline of a violent lifestyle.

"I won't let you down," he proudly smiled.

Jason warmly smiled, it has been a while since he had a partnership as trusting as his with Sonny.

"Good, I'll be in touch," Jason turned to the desk and gathered his belongings.

The look on Spinelli's face had hacked into her insecurities. It had aggravated them to the point that she instinctively felt the need to claim Spinelli, to alert Jason that this would be the one and only time Spinelli would ever help him because Spinelli was going to be a father.

"Oh and before you leave," she leaned over lovingly to Spinelli, "Congratulate us."

Jason, who was in the process of tucking in his gun, confusingly looked at her, "Um congratulate what?" Jason looked at her senseless because Spinelli's face sure didn't give anything away.

"Well," Maxie grinned, "Spinelli is going to be a father, I'm pregnant."

He knew it was a possibility, Jason Morgan remembered the day Lulu Spencer walked into his office rumoring it to him, but he never thought it would turn out to be true. Jason Morgan always considered Spinelli, in a selfish manner, to be the one person that would never really leave him. Spinelli was too odd…for everything Jason told himself no matter how much he enjoyed the kid's presence. Odd wasn't bad, it was just a factor he thought would keep him from aging into the responsibilities of a wife and child. How wrong he was to place all his marbles on Damian Spinelli.

"That's um," he stuttered as he gazed at Spinelli who was as speechless as ever, "Um…"

"Jase," Spinelli stood up in a serious, but sympathetic tone. He could see it in his eyes, in Jason's stone cold eyes, that everything would be different now. He could see in the soft nod and the frail smile, reluctance. He could see in the way he absent-mindedly left the apartment, that today would indeed be just a favor.

"Well that was rude," Maxie leaned up from the couch pointing at the door, "He didn't even look-"

"Don't put down Jason," Spinelli interrupted with an obvious irritated tone as his back was to her.

"What?" She sensitively turned to him taken off guard.

He stood with his hands on his hips and his head down at the ground. He huffed a smile while nodding in disbelief at how quickly emotions had changed.

"I said," he turned to her with a serious, but comedic sarcasm look, "Don't put down Jason."

She looked at him confused and he glared at her not about to fall for her "act".

"I wasn't, I was-."

"So was that revenge?" He seriously looked at her to be honest.

"No, Spinelli," she stepped forward wanting to grab his arm and set him down on the couch and explain why she came here, but he backed away.

"I told you," he stopped talking unable to look at her and utter his wishes of how he was going to break it to Jason.

She nervously looked at him with tears caught in her throat, "Spinelli I just…"

"You just, you just?" He mocked her seeing a worry-some fear in her eyes, but continued to peg at her, "Maxie! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

She instantly jumped at the harsh brutality in his voice, "I..."

"I," he pointed to himself, "Wanted to tell him!"

"Well…next time."

He huffed in the hypocrisy of her words, "Like you really want a next time," he turned away from her silent for a moment.

She stood there in disbelief at how Jason was once again coming between them, "I don't really understand why it matters if I tell him or…"

"It just does!" He shouted while turning to her, "There are things between Jason and I that no one else knows!"

"Like Jake is his son?"

"You knew?"

"The whole town knows."

"No no no," he held his breath while his mind tried to wrap around her confession, "You knew and you still threw it in his face!"

"Yeah, I did!"

"Why?! He has never been hurtful to you even after all the crap you pulled with Elizabeth, he never once set out to hurt you and this is how you repay him? Tell him I'm having what he wants most in this world?"

It sounded so much worse then when she played it through her head, "I wasn't thinking."

"No you weren't!"

His disappointed glare was more than she could take, "Gawd! Spinelli! Fine! I'm sorry okay!" She yelled back with her hand falling to her forehead, "But how would you expect me to react when he's offering you everything you've ever wanted!"

"All I ever wanted?" He walked towards her, "All I ever wanted was you, but you, you threw that away. You decided…Warren is your man."

She huffed in the way his irrational anger blinded him from seeing what was right in front of him, her, she was here, here to say she wanted him.

"You can be so stupid sometimes Spinelli," she quickly turned away from him so her tears could escape, but doing so brought on a wave of nausea.

"Yeah I KNOW," he turned away from her, "You and everyone else like to point that out," he glanced at his computer, "well you know what else I wish everyone would point out…that I'm NOT Spinelli!"

Silence fell upon them again, both at opposite sides of the room to match their opposite personalities. She tried to pretend she didn't just hear that confession while he tried to pretend he didn't just see her wince in pain at hearing something that wasn't literally true. He stared at the camera he was currently hacked into at Sonny Corinthos's house and saw Andrew Karpov leaving. He knew he needed to keep tabs on him, but he couldn't wait for whatever was happening here to just end.

"Look," he turned to her, but she interrupted in a small soft whine, "I felt like Jason was taking you away from me."

"He would never do that," Spinelli quietly said to her in a calm voice because all the shouting had given him a headache.

She wanted to face him, but felt trapped in her own body. She grabbed hold of the desk while her hand on her hip began to gently stroke her stomach, "You got so excited when he gave you that important position, it was as if we weren't here…"

He tilted his head to the right to see what she was hiding from him, "Are you okay?"

"I just felt like he was taking you away from us," she slowly turned to him, her hand strongly gripping the desk and her other hand resting on their blueberry size of a child.

He smiled at her as if she was being silly, "Maxie, the only person that can take me away from you, is you."

The soft smile that formed in the corners of her mouth upon hearing his sweet words faded away as fast as the rosy glowing pigment in her face.

"Maxie?" He questioned before seeing her lose grip on the desk.

"Spin," she uttered as she was about to fall.

He caught her just before her knees were about to give and she clung onto him like she never had before, "I'm gonna be sick."

"Alright," he helped her upstairs where once they entered his room she darted for the door and locked it.

"Maxie," he knocked on the door repeatedly over a ten-minute period, "Let me in, let me help you."

The toilet flushed and he stepped away from the door, but as soon as it opened he rushed to her side.

"Are you okay?" He concernedly tried to touch her, but she walked passed him to the bed.

"Um yeah you should sit, better yet, lie down and take a nap."

"Spin," she softly uttered after she sat down.

He stopped his rambling when she looked up at him, scared, but with something on her mind. He walked over to her where he bent down to her and gently ran his hand along her shoulder until it fell down to her hand. He took her hand in his and then gently tucked her blonde hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry," he said as he cupped her cheek.

"We can't keep doing this."

"I know," he rose up from his knees and kissed her forehead, "Come on lie down."

He stacked up his pillows and then swept her feet onto the bed.

"Spinelli I'm not tired," she retorted.

"Just rest," he smiled, but she looked unenthused, "Please Maximista. Please rest for me so I can stop feeling like this is all my fault."

"It is," she amused.

"I know," he kissed her cheek and then grabbed the blanket nearby and laid it out on her, "If I had just said no to you that night…"

She quickly gazed at him wondering why he thought back to the night they were together for why she blamed him. To see him put himself down for her current misery broke her heart. If there was anyone to blame it was her and in moments like these, when he was taking care of her, she almost didn't see the night as anything to regret.

"But I didn't. I couldn't be the friend you needed me to be. I had to be selfish and have you because I love you. I took advantage of you and I'm sorry…"

"Spinelli," she touched his hand where he slowly looked up at her. She lost her words when his sad eyes locked with hers. It was an emotion that Spinelli had never issued to her and that was because he wasn't the Spinelli she was with that night. The Spinelli before her was the one who had his guard up all the time. He was brave and courageous for _her. _He was supportive for _her._ He was there for _her._ He was everything she needed himto be, but was she everything he needed her to be? The way he somberly nodded as if her silence was okay and then said, "Get some sleep," communicated to her that she needed to be better at being his everything.

Spinelli closed the door behind him and then folded his hands into his face. He hated this feeling in the pit of his stomach. Guilt. The number one cause of his sorrow. He wasn't exactly sure how a day that started off so well could end so horrific. Sure he had seen of and heard of Jason's tales, but when they were directly happening to him, it an entirely different guilt trip. He walked from the door and then jogged downstairs to the laptop when his phone rang.

"Hey John, you in town?" Spinelli asked while he took a seat and began rewinding security footage to discover where Karpov was heading next.

"Yeah," Johnny glanced at a pouting Lulu next to him, "Where are you?"

"I'm at Jason's, is Lulu with you?"

"She sure is," Johnny smiled and Lulu rolled her eyes.

"Do you two want two want to stop by, Maxie's here?" He glanced away from the computer to the stairs making sure she wasn't listening.

"I'll see," Johnny pulled the phone away from his mouth, "You want to see Maxie?"

"Oh my god yes," Lulu enthused in a way she never thought she would.

Johnny giggled, "We'll be right over."

"Great and," Spinelli walked into the kitchen, "can you guys stop by Walgreens?"

"Yeah Spin, what do you need?"

Spinelli checked out the cabinets and as pure usual Jason had nothing to feed himself with or even anything he and Maxie could snack on, "Put Lulu on the phone."

"Here," Johnny motioned his cell phone to Lulu, "He wants to talk to you."

"Really?" She questioned remembering not too long ago he said he never wanted to talk to her again.

"Yeah," Johnny insisted and Lulu took the phone, "Spinelli!"

"Lulu, I'm not talking to you because I forgive you."

"Oh," she frowned.

"Lulu, Maxie's over and Jason is having one if his hunger strikes and…well I would really appreciate it if you could by some good groceries for them, you'd know what to buy more so than Johnny and I would so…"

"Yeah of course," she nodded, "And what about you, do you need some orange soda or…"

"No, um Jason has that here, but he lacks vegetables, fruits, ginger-ale, crackers, snack foods, ya know?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, see you two when you get here," Spinelli grabbed orange soda from the fridge.

"Okay," she smiled where just as she said goodbye Spinelli reluctantly thanked her.

"Your welcome Spinelli," Spinelli heard her sincerity and then hung up. He walked over to his computer where within a few minutes he was able to relocate Andrew Karpov. Even though Karpov was enclosing in on the warehouse waterfront property that he and Jason agreed to meet at, Spinelli couldn't help, but feel a set up in motion. Needless to say, Spinelli put his premonitions behind him and continued watching Karpov as well as the waterfront property. As instructed he waited until ten till to notify Jason of the area's clearance, "Jason the place is safe and secure from all vantage points."

"Are you sure? Is there anyone around that I might have to suspect as working for Karpov?"

"Negative, I called Bernie to instruct Deny to tell all the boatmen to remain clear of the pier for at least an hour and a half. I also ran a background check on every boatman renting out the pier for the day. They're clear. You're safe Jason."

"Has Karpov arrived yet?"

"Yes."

"Good work. I'll be in touch in twenty."

Spinelli smiled hearing the phone click and grabbed his orange soda to relax back on the couch. He watched as Jason emerged onto the dock and Karpov acknowledge him. Spinelli arched the rim of the glass of his orange soda to his lips when he suddenly heard a commotion from outside the door.

"Johnny I'm not going to run away! Let go of me!"

Spinelli grunted quickly putting his glass on the coffee table and rushing to the front door before they knocked, "Hey! Keep it down, Maxie's sleeping."

"Sorry Spinelli," Lulu glared at Johnny, "But I can't seem to go anywhere without him thinking I'll run off."

"That man is not safe for you to be hanging out with Lulu!"

Lulu laughed like he was a hypocrite, "That's what Spinelli said about you!" Lulu walked through the doorway with groceries in her hand where Johnny followed behind with rebuttal argument, "But!"

"Maxie," Lulu softly smiled seeing her at the top of the stairs.

Spinelli and Johnny quickly glanced up Maxie where she excitingly said back, "Lulu!"

Lulu quickly tossed the groceries into Spinelli's arms and met Maxie at the bottom of the stairs, "How are you?" She hugged Maxie who responded with a slow, "I'm doing okay…"

Johnny and Spinelli exchanged glances as the two talked to each other like they hadn't seen each other in FOREVER.

Spinelli nodded his head while laughing, "Let's take this stuff into the kitchen."

Johnny joined in the same comedic banter, "You would think they're sisters!"

"Oh shut up," Lulu scowled at them as they walked passed them into the kitchen, "Go do some brotherly bonding in the kitchen."

"We will," Johnny sarcastically turned to her.

"Good," Lulu snarled back, "And while you're in their cook us dinner."

"Pushy…" Spinelli teased as he disappeared into the kitchen where Johnny said, "Yeah she's learning it from your girl friend."

Lulu disbelievingly rolled her eyes where Maxie smirked at her, "Looks like you two are…back together?"

"Eh," Lulu shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't exactly say that…yet."

"Yet!" Maxie laughed grabbing Lulu's hand and dragging her to the couch, "What happened?"

"Ethan Lovett is what happened," Lulu lustfully talked of him.

"Lulu," Maxie looked back in the kitchen then back at her, "Spinelli tells me he's bad news."

"And the same could be said about Johnny," Lulu honestly looked at her who knew exactly what she was talking of.

"I know," Maxie nodded knowing the revelation of Johnny being responsible for Michael's accident is hard to get passed, "And I'm not excusing it, but it was an accident, it's not like he intended for you know who to get hurt."

"I want to believe that, I do, but," Lulu leaned in whispering, "How am I supposed to have a future with Johnny while Carly and Sonny are mourning the loss of their son?"

"I don't know Lulu," Maxie honestly looked at her like she would have no idea how to handle the situation either, "I don't know, but Michael isn't dead, they can still get back their son. But will you be able to get back Johnny if this Ethan guy turns out to be as much trouble as…" She looked back at the kitchen, "Spinelli claims."

"Why are you so hush hush about Ethan?" Lulu intriguingly looked at her, "What do you know?"

"Not a lot, just that when Spinelli and I were babysitting Elizabeth's kids, Spinelli was…"

"Hold up," Lulu chuckled, "You babysat Elizabeth's kids?"

"Yeah," Maxie rolled her eyes, "We're trying this 'let's be tolerate of each other' thing."

Lulu smirked, "Right so continue…"

"Okay so anyway when I was out of the room, Spinelli, I supposed thought it was a safe time to talk to Johnny about the guy you were with."

"Well why would he keep it so secretive? Why wouldn't he just tell you, so you could tell me?"

"Because," Maxie sighed, "He's afraid I'm going to worry about him putting himself in harms way and I am. Worrying equals stress and he's trying to keep me from stressing myself out…"

Lulu cautiously looked at her with a smirk, "Because…." She hoped that Maxie had finally taken the initiative to get the answer to a question she had been wondering about for weeks.

"Because…" Maxie slowly smiled with slight excitement, "I'm…going to be having Spinelli's baby after all."

"Should I be saying congratulations…." Lulu eyed with a bright smile hoping Maxie had figured out what she wanted.

"Ye-ah," Maxie slowly nodded, "He's excit-I mean we're both excited."

"So you're keeping the baby?" Lulu wanted to double check for there seemed to still be a little uncertainty.

"Well I'm still iffy about it all, I mean the mourning sickness doesn't help…at all."

"No it doesn't," Lulu giggled.

"But for the most part, I mean Spinelli's happy and Kate doesn't seem to mind so…"

"Everyone wins?" Lulu looked at her ominous.

"Sure," Maxie said with little convincing.

"Well congratulations then," Lulu smiled, "If you ever need anything, not like I was pregnant for very long, but I mean you can seek me for advice or…"

"Or my substitute at work?" Maxie sneakily smiled while shrugging her shoulders.

"Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor in all the barfing," Lulu giggled like there was no way she would return there.

"Not when I think of the little girl I'll be holding in seven months," Maxie said before realizing she actually admitted it with enthusiasm. Maybe she really was looking forward to this pregnancy.

"Girl? Spinelli doesn't want a little boy running around with a computer and the essential food groups?" Lulu teased with barely a straight face.

"Well, don't tell him this," Maxie leaned in, looking over her shoulder and then back at Lulu, "I think he secretly wants a girl." Lulu laughed nodding her head ridiculously and then Maxie changed subjects, "but back to business, it would only be for six weeks at the least and you get to boss around the second assistant…"

"Oh like you bossed and irritated the hell out of me!"

"Exactly!"

"We'll see…" Lulu amused the thought before looking up to Spinelli emerge from the kitchen with two drinks, "Looks like I need to have my father get you some Cuban cigars…"

Spinelli amusingly smiled setting a tray of refreshments on the coffee table, "Well it didn't take you two long to catch up with each other."

"Not with girls Spinelli which I'm told you're having one," Lulu smirked at him and he playfully looked at her and Maxie unamused, "Or a boy…fifty percent chance ladies…"

"And my money is on a boy," Johnny popped his head from the kitchen, "Boy!"

"Girl!" Lulu exclaimed.

Johnny looked at her challenged, "Ms. Spencer, I think we should settle this in the kitchen."

"Your on," she got up from the couch.

"Oh Lulu, here," Spinelli handed her a beer.

"Where's yours papa bear?" Lulu teased.

"In the fridge after my shift as tech support is over."

"Working for Jason again?"

"Just a favor," he looked at her with confidence that he wanted it to remain as a onetime favor.

"Hmm," Lulu uttered having no idea what to make of it for things with Jason were never as simple as a onetime ordeal.

"What!" Spinelli playfully looked at her confused by her look of doubt, "It is."

"Whatever you say…" Lulu turned into the kitchen believing it was a lie he didn't want to admit.

"It is," he glanced down at Maxie before taking a seat on the corner of the coffee table, "I really want you to know that."

"I know," Maxie nodded, "I believe you."

"Good because to be honest, I would have loved to join you in that incredibly short nap you took," he teased where she giggled reaching for his hand, "Spinelli!"

"Maximista," he sat on the edge of the coffee table, "I was serious when I said I wanted you to rest, we've exhausted ourselves far too much by our bickering over each other's careers to really spend anymore time at odd ends."

"I agree, and I will…I'll do it now," she propped her legs on the couch and lied down more relaxingly, "Better."

"Yes, the jackal is jealous," he said with a straight face which amused her and in turn made him laugh to the point of pulling her into a kiss. Spinelli felt the force of her tongue pulling him to the couch. He set his hand on the back of the couch while his other wrapped around her waist as he set himself on top of her.

"Spinelli," Maxie whined, "Let's go upstairs," she barely breathed out as she felt herself rising in ecstasy when he slowly rubbed against her. He kissed her neck with a huge smile coming over him, "Does Maximista want some Jackal loving?"

She squealed being ticklish on her neck, "Not when you say it like that," she giggled at his cheesy words.

"Well how about like this?" He pulled her into a kiss while wrapping his arm tightly around her waist and grinding against her so hard that she could feel how turned on she made him.

"Alright Spinelli, John…" Lulu suddenly stopped when she saw something her eyes didn't need to see.

"What?" Spinelli looked up where he lost his balance at precisely the time Lulu bumped into Johnny as she attempted to enter the kitchen.

"Spinelli!" Maxie quickly called in concern after he hit the floor and then hit his head on the coffee table.

"Ah...I'm okay Maximista," he slowly rose from the floor to see Maxie somewhat laughing at him.

"This isn't funny Maxie, my head seriously hurts," Spinelli held his head where Maxie chuckled, "Aw let me kiss it."

As she planted a sweet kiss on his forehead, Spinelli noticed the awkward moment between Lulu and Johnny. Johnny stared at the red wine all over her blouse while Lulu became intrigued at these little unpredictable moments forming between them.

"Shoot!" Johnny looked at her like a deer caught in headlights, "Um come here." He grabbed her hand and took her into the kitchen where he propped her on the counter and wet a wash cloth, "That's gonna stain your white blouse." He said as he hesitated how to touch the stain.

Lulu looked down at Johnny taking in how adorable he looked trying to figure out how to be a gentlemen while touching her breast, "John."

He looked up at her only to be completely taken off guard by her hands on his cheeks and her lips crashing into his.

Spinelli humored himself by Lulu's startled look, "I think the Jackal and his beautiful blonde might have just gotten the Mob Prince and his blonde back together."

"You think?" Maxie questioned for she didn't see what he did, but the second she asked they heard a pot fall from the kitchen.

Spinelli giggled, kissing Maxie's cheek and then glancing into the kitchen, "You two okay?"

"Uh…Yeah, just great," Lulu shouted.

"Are you sure, it sounded like something broke?" Maxie teasingly shouted back.

"We're fine guys," Johnny shouted and suddenly the hush tones from the kitchen turned into perfect silence.

"I guess you're right," Maxie looked up at Spinelli, "That's good then."

"I think so," Maxie smiled getting lost in Spinelli's eyes when Spinelli's phone rang.

"Aw I have to answer that," he quickly turned to the coffee table, "its Jason."

As Spinelli answered the call, Maxie looked away to the green blanket on the couch and reminisced there first time together…here on the couch where their bundle of joy was created.

"Hey Jason," Spinelli turned to his computer, "How'd it go?"

"Good," Jason seriously said as he walked down the alley to his car, "I'll be going to my next meeting now with the head families, thanks for helping me."

"You don't need me anymore?" He quickly looked up at Maxie, evilly smiling.

"Nope, that was it, I probably won't be back tonight so if you and Maxie want the apartment to yourself, it's yours."

"Thanks, we'll make uh use of it."

"Yeah Spinelli I didn't need to know that. Look I got to go, I have to be at the warehouse on Elm Street in an hour, and it's rush hour traffic."

"Eek, that does sound bad, well drive safely."

"Yeah and um congratulations Spinelli."

"Thanks."

"Yeah I shoulda said it earlier, I'm happy for you and I hope I didn't cause anything between you and Maxie."

"No," Spinelli sweetly eyed Maxie who was curious as to why he was looking at her like that, "You didn't. Maxie and I are just fine now thanks."

"Bye Spin,"

"Bye." Spinelli slowly hung up the phone feeling as though the conversation was lingering to nowhere, something that usually never happens when they talk.

He shook off his eerie feeling and looked up at Maxie, "Well that was Jason saying I'm done."

"I want this couch," she looked at Spinelli determined to have what she wanted.

"This couch?"

"Yeah, do you think Jason would have a problem with it?"

"No," he formed a small smile as he took a seat on it, "I think he'd understand." Spinelli sweetly cupped her cheek and then pushed back the curls in her face.

"I love it when you do that," she sighed in relaxation putting her hand in his.

"What about…when I do this," he slowly kissed her neck and she squealed feeling the ticklish affects, "Spinelli!"

"Come on," he pulled away from her and got up from the couch.

"Come on what?" She confusingly questioned his tease

He stood humored, "Maxi-mista," he leaned over the couch wrapping his arm around her waist and his other under her legs.

He lifted her from the cushions and walked around the couch where she asked him, "Spinelli where are we going?" She asked even though she knew they were headed upstairs.

"To nap," he amused her and she playfully hit him, "We have guests over!"

"Who are probably…napping too," he smirked as he reached the last step.

"Spinelli," she nodded like he was a bad boy.

His wide grin displayed his adorable dimples that Maxie couldn't get enough. As he carried her into his room, she wanted to smother those dimples in kisses, but he had other plans. He backed off of her where he threw his brown leather jacket to the floor, "You know," he pulled off his black Hanes t-shirt, "I've always wondered about your title as…" He reached into his drawer revealing handcuffs.

"Are you sure you want to play that game?" She evilly smiled.

He shut the drawer and walked towards her, "I play all kinds of games Maximista," he climbed on the bed, "I'm pretty sure I can handle a little foreplay." He stopped just in front of her holding up the handcuffs.

"Damian Spinelli, you sure know how to keep things fresh," she leaned in mesmerizing him with her seductive tone before pulling away from his lips as he thought to kiss her.

She stole the cuffs from his hand and playfully pushed him down on the bed before straddling his legs. She could see he was quite taken by her roughness, but was intrigued to see how far she would go to play bad cop. She cuffed his hands behind the bedpost and then backed off of him to strip.

Spinelli often thought he had seen all sides of his precious Maximista, but as she revealed a sweet innocent lacy white bra and a white lacy v-string, he realized he hadn't seen anything yet.

She pounced on the bed like a cheetah scouting out her prey and moved her hands along his jeans. She squeezed his thighs as she scooted herself on top of his legs and then slowly moved one hand to his belt. She pressed herself against his chest while her other hand snaked around his neck. She moistened her lips and then ever so gently kissed his neck as her hand down below pulled his belt out. She could feel his chest erratically moving up and down, the restraint was getting to him and it only made her smile more wickedly.

"Spinelli," she whispered into his ear while her hand undid the button on his blue jeans.

"Uh huh," he cough trying to clear his dry throat.

"Are you okay?" She rubbed her cheek against his before looking at him directly.

"Ye-ah," he assured her.

She excitedly embraced him with a kiss to the lips that left him more breathless than before. She slid her hands from his cheeks and scaled down his chest to the rim of his jeans. Pulling his zipper down, she expected to see kinky orange boxers, but they were black.

"Black is becoming a favorite," she glanced up at him almost a tad bit annoyed for she liked these quirky qualities about him that seemed to be disappearing every now and then.

"Black is bad," he cocked a grin that made her huff in surprise, "Oh and you think you're bad?"

"I'm a mobsta," he raised his cocky grin to an all new high, "It's in the job description."

"You were," she playfully corrected him as she purposely sat herself roughly on his groin. He held his breath feeling a harsh discomfort where she seductively leaned towards him and sweetly said, "You were a mobster."

"Were," he amused to her wishes, "But today is the exception."

She laughed at the way he wouldn't drop his bad boy routine, "You sure you want that exception?"

"You don't think I can handle you?"

Her mouth hung open, "Alright Damian, I'm gonna make you want out," and she sealed her promise with pressing herself so tight against his chest that he could feel himself reacting to every brush against his abdomen. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted sweet cherry scented kisses along his throat and neck. Her tongue broke its curfew, easing out of her mouth to moisten those areas. She could hear the metal against the bedpost screeching. His hands were growing more impatient as were his moans. He was a caged lion waiting to roar which could only be granted by his master. Soon enough though, soon enough she'd released him into the wild, just a little longer Mr. Jackal.

"Da-mi-ian," she spoke in syllables while leaning her cheek against his, "Can you handle this…?" She nibbled his ear and he lied silent with his mouth open holding his breath.

"Spinelli…you want me that bad?" She playfully teased him after feeling something extended from his boxers.

He stared at her senseless until his fingers found the release on the cuffs, "Your damn right I do." He broke free to wrap his hands around her and tumbled himself on top, "You drive a hard game Ms. Jones." He looked away from her, as she remained stunned at his abilities. He wasn't just a genius, he was magician and it left her speechless. He slammed his jeans to the ground and didn't wait a moment longer to get her naked. He sweetly ran his hand along her silky skin to the underwear. As his hands gripped the lace he kissed her chest and then leaned away to remove them from her ankles. She softly smiled as he cared to smell the little details about her. He threw the underwear to the floor and then leaned over to kiss her shoulder and neck while his hands unhooked her bra. She was amazed at how well he was getting at undressing her since the first time they were together. He caught on quickly.

"Maximista?" He cupped her cheek before leaning away to pull the white sheets over them where he sneakily removed his boxers, "Now," he dropped them to the ground, "Where were we?" He quickly turned to her and let himself finally have her.

Just after Johnny and Lulu had reached their climax on the floor of Jason's Kitchen, they could suddenly hear their friends upstairs.

"Jason would not be amused if he knew his penthouse was getting more action than him," Lulu joked where she felt Johnny's arm around her neck gently pushing her lips into his. She waited for him to say something in return after they kissed, but he didn't. He was frankly at loss for words considering he thought he had lost her to his sister and to another man.

"John?" She rolled over him, resting her chin on his chest.

"I'm sorry," he giggled nervously, "It's just that I thought I…" He sweetly stroked her blonde strands, "I thought we'd never be able to get passed it."

She softly smiled at him before glancing away to his black dress shirt and grabbing it to cover her breasts. He interlaced his hand with hers while resting the back of his head on his other hand, "Lulu I never meant to hurt Michael. I would never hurt a child, you have to know that." He kissed her hand where her smile turned frail, "John."

He ignored his name as he looked at her hand and gently stroked her pretty pink nails, "And I hope that someday, eventually, you will forgive me and allow me to put a ring on that finger." He looked up at her with a smile until she was no longer reciprocating the emotions.

"John," she began to clarify what their afternoon sex meant, but was interrupted by Maxie's shouts of pleasure.

"Who would have ever thought?" Johnny giggled, "I wonder if Spinelli thinks the sex is better since she got pregnant," Johnny pondered the thought while moving his hands to Lulu's waist.

She knew what he was insisting, "Johnny we used condoms."

"I know," he shrugged his shoulders, "But…"

"But that's not going to happen to us," she sweetly cupped his cheek before turning away from him.

"Why not?" He gently grabbed her hand.

"Because…" She glanced at him, unsure of how to tell him that this didn't change anything.

"Lulu I love you and I'll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I am a good man."

"John," she pouted, "You are a good man and I do love you…"

"Then why are you looking at me like this didn't mean anything to you?" He hurtfully looked at her wondering how she could change her emotions so quickly.

"It did mean something to me," she whined for she desperately didn't want to hurt him, but he had to understand that it wasn't so easy, so black and white to forget what he didn't intend to do.

"Obviously it didn't," he folded his lips and looked away from her to hide his disappointment.

"Johnny," she motioned to touch him, but he wouldn't have it.

"Damn it Lulu, I risked everything to be with you," he nodded his head in disbelief where Lulu dropped the shirt that was covering her and put her hands on his cheeks, "And I will never forget that, but you wanted to kill Sonny…"

"Who tried to kill me because of my father! He hated me because my father was a psychopath. I never had a chance and on the day you and I were supposed to have our first date, I was kidnapped and beaten to death!"

"I know!" She whined not knowing what to do so she backed off of him and put his shirt on.

"It was an accident Lulu," he got up from the floor putting his red shiny boxers on, "I would never make a child pay for his father's mistakes."

"I know," she walked towards him, "Believe me I know who you are!" She stopped in front of him, touching his chest, "You saved Carly at the black and white ball. You've saved me from losing my mind…" She slowly cupped his cheek and brought his attention to her, "I want to love you the way I always have, but…I don't know how?" She shrugged her shoulders, "And until I figure it out…"

"Don't say it," he wrapped his hand around her neck, "Don't end us, if space is what you need, I'll leave…" He softly smiled before turning to his jeans on the floor.

She grabbed his arm where the second he looked up at her she said, "You need your shirt."

"Keep it," he smiled somberly, "It always looked better on you." He reminisced before bending down to grab his jeans.

She watched as he gathered his things and then left the kitchen, "John wait."

He stopped and turned to her where she said in the kitchen doorway, "Don't leave, not like this."

"I thought you wanted space?"

"I do," she walked towards him, "But Spinelli worked so hard to bring me home and I think Maxie would like it if you stayed and we just hung out together, like we used to."

"Alright," he stood right in front of her trying not to kiss her, "I'll stay since the commotion upstairs has settled down."

Lulu laughed where she instinctively put her hand in his and touched his chest. She lost her playfulness the second her eyes locked with him. Chemistry was never the problem, neither was trust until now. As much as she wanted to kiss him, she knew if she did he'd be totally confused. So she stared at him until a 007 theme sounded from Spinelli's cell phone on the coffee table.

"Maximista," Spinelli glanced down at her as he held her in his arms.

"I love you Spinelli," she simply said with the biggest smile on her face, "You make everything fun."

He was taken back by her compliment that came so easily, "Well I had a pretty good partner."

"No," she playfully laughed, leaning up from him, "you were really great this time."

"This time?" He humored, "Was I not good before?"

"Oh no!" She quickly nodded, "You were great," she playfully touched his chest, "But you were just…" She smiled in a daze, glowing brightly, "Words cannot explain Spinelli."

Her laugh was contagious, "Those words sound oddly familiar" he teased as he pulled himself up from his slouchy position.

"I know," she softly smiled remembering when he said them to her the first time. Her smile joyously froze on her face, "Spinelli, I didn't do anything I didn't want to do that night."

"Really?" He looked at her really wanting to believe that night was about the two of them.

She nodded slowly, "I wouldn't have wanted you to comfort me in any other way."

He smiled like he really needed to hear that, "I'm glad," he smiled where she cupped his cheek and then ran her fingers through his wild hair, "I'm happy," she motioned to lie back down with him until the bedroom door opened.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Maxie annoyingly asked making sure she was covered for Johnny's eyes.

"Uh sorry, but…Spinelli, there's a situation with Jason," Johnny handed him his cell phone.

Spinelli duly noted the disturbed look on Johnny's face as he took the phone and put it to his ear, "What's going on?" Spinelli asked while bending down to put his boxers on from under the covers.

"Wait, no Bernie, stop right there, Jason drove himself, I saw him take the keys to the mob mobile," Spinelli chuckled until he heard something different. "Bernie, you're wrong, well I don't care who told you that Jason was going to arrive in a limo, Jason said limos were an easy way to be ambushed."

Maxie watched as he avoided eye contact with her. It was an attempt to ease her mind, but the attempt failed horribly when Bernie told him that Jason had failed to show up to their usual conference before the big meeting with the families.

"He hasn't shown up yet?" Spinelli quickly jerked to the clock on his nightstand where he grabbed it to see the time, "I talked to him like forty minutes ago, didn't he call you to say every-thing…went…" He stopped when Bernie said no. It was then he knew something had gone terribly wrong, so wrong that he jetted out of the room and down the stairs to hop over the couch and pull up surveillance on what happened after Jason got off the phone with him.

"Bern-ie, I'll have to call you back," he moved the phone away from his ear to Bernie's annoyance and watch the footage play.

"Spinelli?" Lulu walked from the kitchen with her jeans on only to see him completely distraught, "Spinelli what's wrong?" She asked seeing his hand slowly rise to his mouth while his other hand pulled on his hair. She heard footsteps and turned her attention to Johnny whom froze still from behind the couch after he ran down the stairs.

"Is that…?" Johnny cautiously began to question, but Spinelli refused to answer him back for he knew in his heart that what he saw on the screen was not the end of Jason Morgan.

XOXOX

Next Chapter: Spinelli goes out his way to prove himself, which worries Maxie. Maxie catches Mac in the act, will Mac find out about Spixie's little bundle of joy? How will he react and will it be the end of spixie? Jason and Bernie make an unfortunate realization. Thanks for reading and REVIEW! Please!


	29. Running Up That Hill

**Author's Note:** This chapter is too good for me to say anything. Remember everything has a meaning to it! Pay attention to details. Gosh I wish GH wrote like this! REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Chapter 29**

**RUNNING UP THAT HILL**

The side view mirror of a V8 Vantage Aston Martin displayed a man anxious for the arrival of his destination. While his driver swung in and out of traffic, his eyes got lost in the reflection of himself found in that very mirror.

**Holy Grail ** |ˈˈhoʊli ˈgreɪl|

noun

(In Christian Mythology) The dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess _miraculous powers_.

The polished brass shined like the blood-red tie around his neck. The silk lied flawless against his cougar black dress shirt and matched that of the jacket on top of it. The layer of a brisk dark overcoat didn't irritate the skin under his arms as much as the charcoal fedora hat irritated his forehead in the heat of the summer evening. Even with the cool breeze blowing in his face, the man remained unsettled at the gunpowder he smelled in the air as the vehicle came to a drift.

"You see anything?" He asked while taking his hat off to reveal perfectly slicked back chocolate brown hair.

The jet haired rebel in an ivory-black dress shirt and a silver suit, lunged forward revealing unbeknownst to him the golden cross he kept hidden on his clothes. He rubbed his knuckles against the foggy windshield and said, "Nah, looks clear to me."

"Very well then, let's get the show on the road," he put his hat back on and then turned to the window where two fingers of his right hand signaled out and then forward. The Chevy Suburban behind them pulled ahead leaving him and his driver alone and unprotected. He ushered his hand away from the window to the button to close it. As the glass moved up it caught the luminescence of a chain around the neck of his fellow friend.

"You gonna pray for us?"

"What?" The rebel remarked jokingly.

His left hand gestured to the small cross, "Just never took you for a religious guy."

He chuckled at the man beside him before glancing up to see the guards depart from the car up front, "I never took you for a man of action."

"Touché," he smirked before turning away from him, "To-uc-hé" he opened the car door and stepped out.

"No seriously," the rebel uttered stepping out of the driver's seat. He set his hand on the roof of the car while his other began to grab the chain around his neck, "I'm not a religious guy."

"Right…Which is why your eyeing that thing like it means something to you?" He looked at the mob prince like he needed to stop convincing himself otherwise, "I mean really John."

"Spinelli!" He gazed up from the cross playfully annoyed, "This is when you're supposed to say 'I'm not a man of action guy' either".

Spinelli giggled where as he motioned to lean his elbows on the roof of his car he heard Bernie freakishly from behind, "You screw this up…"

"Does it look like I'm a guy that screws things?" Spinelli sarcastically smirked and the old man who looked at him disgusted, "Let's go!" Spinelli jokingly looked at Johnny where the two closed the car doors and made there way down a small discrete alley.

"Morgan Party Present." Bernie told the two men standing guard. The guard on the right turned to the door and knocked on it three times.

The door slowly opened where scruffy man popped his head out, "How can you say your party is present when Morgan ain't here."

Bernie nervously smiled, "Morgan had an emergency and sent his second to step in for him, Costello this is just a one time gig."

"Bernie, you know the rules, we usually have to…"

Spinelli cleared his throat, "You can search me. I'm only here to talk nice business with everyone."

The scruffy man snarled at Spinelli, but gave a nod to the men standing guard. As they did it in the Broncs, they slammed Spinelli against the wall and did a full body search.

"Hey," Johnny attempted to make it an even fight, but Spinelli issued him to let it go.

The guards found the gun around his waist and turned to Costello, "What's the gun for?"

"Protection," Johnny glared at him, "Like we all got."

"Very well, let him loose," he looked at Bernie, "I have to announce this change up. Wait out here."

Bernie nodded and then turned to Spinelli, "You better behave."

"Bernie," Johnny looked at him, "Will you relax."

The old man patted his forehead with his handkerchief until the door to the boardroom opened.

"Go in," Costello motioned.

Johnny walked in first with Bernie right behind and Max and Milo beside him. Spinelli was the last one to enter; he stood in the doorway taking in a moment he was confident he'd never get to feel again.

"Who are you?" Costigan, a fat, but powerful New York City Gangster asked as if it was the key to letting him into the room.

"Damian, Damian Smith, Morgan's secret partner," he proudly said while standing tall as he briefly remembered the events that followed this.

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"_John, call Paulie!" Spinelli whispered from his phone, "He's closer to the warehouse…Bernie!" He turned away from John who rushed to grab the phone on the desk. _

"_Um," Spinelli stopped thinking as he saw Lulu looking at Maxie at the top of the stairs, "Lulu.." He nodded his head to the stairs. _

"_Oh, I get," Lulu pointed to the stairs, "You want us to go…"_

_Spinelli pouted walking towards her, "Please, just go upstairs—ss No BERNIE!" Spinelli quickly turned away from her shouting into the phone, "Call Deny and get our guys to those docks!" _

"_Hey Paulie!" Johnny stood at the desk, "Yeah it's Johnny, look have you heard of any noise on Pier 17? Any of your guys…" He looked up at Spinelli nodding his head negative. _

"_Damn," Spinelli turned to his computer trying to find a camera in the area that hadn't been blown by the C-4 they believed was tagged in the alley way that Jason had his car parked in. "Bernie I can't see anything!" Spinelli profusely typed the keys on his laptop to reveal something in area, but it was hopeless._

"_Paulie how long would it take to get your guys to the place and investigate?" Johnny asked where his uncle put him on hold, "Spinelli, why don't we cut this bull shit and just go down there ourselves? I can get us there in fifteen minutes top!" _

"_The police…" Spinelli began to utter with the idea that they'd already be on top of it, but his mind triggered an idea to hack the PCPD. _

"_Yeah I'm still here," Johnny spoke into the phone where he quickly snapped his fingers at Spinelli and began regurgitating the information his uncle fed to him. "They saw a man in a sky blue shirt and navy suit, heading on fifth…" Johnny quickly turned to some post-its' and wrote down the rest of the details before slamming the phone down, "We got it!" _

_Spinelli jumped with hope, "Bernie, he's been spotted on Fifth!...It is?" Spinelli asked after Bernie mentioned that Elizabeth's studio was near Fifth Street._

"_He's going to the studio," Spinelli uttered where he thought to look up at his room upstairs, "LULU!" _

_Johnny rushed over to him, "He crossed Fifth and was seen heading into an alley way of an apartment complex called "Long Island Estates!"_

"_Bernie, what's the name of Elizabeth's studio? The building?" Spinelli grinned at Johnny, "Yes!" The two high fived each other where Johnny turned to see Lulu and Maxie rushing down the stairs._

"_Someone call my name?" Lulu asked where Spinelli instantly turned around, "Call Elizabeth, tell her to get to the studio, but don't worry her though…Bernie." He turned away from them looking slightly relieved; "We're going to get Elizabeth to meet us there, now what about the meeting?" _

_Johnny walked from around the couch not paying attention to Maxie and Lulu's unamused glares at the chaos in front of them. "Maxie?" Lulu called her name seeing her pale face, "Maxie!" _

_Maxie quickly looked at her where Lulu asked, "Are you okay?" But the look on her face was as distraught as hers, "Okay let's sit." She gently motioned her to sit on the steps while she walked into the kitchen to grab her phone. _

"_Bernie, there has to be someone to represent us...okay Jason, you and the organization then," Spinelli corrected himself after Bernie once again reminded him there was no "we"._

_Johnny put his jeans on and then put his white tank top over him, "I'll get the car started…" He showed his keys, but Spinelli put his hand up in objection, "Hang on…"_

_Johnny waited where he saw in the distance Maxie resting her hand on her forehead, obviously distressed by what she was hearing. He walked over to her where she looked up at him with a few tears in her eyes, "This is going to be dangerous isn't it?"_

_Johnny didn't know how to answer her question. It shouldn't be dangerous if they were just going to check up on Jason, but by the heated conversation Spinelli was having, it looked as if they might be doing more than that._

"_Maxie," Johnny softly looked at her as he took a seat beside her, "I'm gonna have his back." Maxie frowned at his words where she ran her hands through her blonde frazzled hair. Johnny wrapped his arm around her, "You need to calm down." He brushed his hand up and down her arm before looking up at Spinelli who was pacing the floor profusely. _

"_Bernie, someone has to go, he'll look weak if he doesn't show or cancels!" Spinelli angrily formed a fist at Bernie's stubbornness, "What if I go?" _

_Maxie quickly leaned her head away from Johnny's shoulder where he too looked at Spinelli in surprised._

"_Only if Jason is too hurt to go! Bernie! You don't have any other options. There's no one else you can trust because obviously there's a rat in the organization. Now…Well I don't care! He left me in charge and you're damn right I'm gonna pull rank. I'm gonna go…" He was about to repeat that he'd only go if Jason isn't strong enough, but Bernie began to list how incompetent he was to sit with mob families and discuss a business he barely had enough experience in to understand. _

"_Well watch me!" He hung up turning to throw his phone on the couch when he saw Maxie mindlessly staring at him wondering what he was thinking. _

"_Max…" He motioned to walk over to her, but she got up from the step and walked up stairs into his room. _

"_Alright," Lulu annoyingly spoke as she walked out of the kitchen, "She's on her waaayy…" She slowly said the last word as she saw Maxie heading up stairs disappointed in the man she loved. _

"_Lulu will you…" Spinelli glanced at her and she regretfully nodded yes, she would go to talk to her._

_Spinelli waited for Lulu to turn the corner on the last step of the stair before telling Johnny the plan, "If he can't perform, I'm going to have to step in."_

"_Are you sure that's a good idea, Spinelli I've been to those meetings, they're going to eat you alive."_

"_You don't think I can pull it off?" _

"_It's not about that, but I thought you were trying to get out…This will put you back into the mess." _

"_There isn't going to be a future for Maxie and I if Jason doesn't live to see tomorrow," Spinelli walked closer to him, "There's a reason I wasn't able to find surveillance on the area. Who ever did this, knows that I'm strong part to the upkeep of this organization."_

"_I don't doubt that, but Spinelli…"_

"_But I'll have you to back me up in there right?" _

"_Of course, but…"_

"_But," Spinelli put his hand on his shoulder, "You, plus Bernie and…"He was interrupted by a knock at the door where a loud voice sounded over, "Spinelli it's Max and Milo!"_

_Spinelli smiled backing away from John, "And with them, I'll be a trusted member for them to believe that Jason can handle what he's been given." _

_Johnny watched as he turned away from him and answered the door, "Spinelli, we know where Jason is."_

"_So do we," Spinelli smiled confidently, "Around fifth."_

"_Yeah?" Max questioned as he and his brother walked through the doorway, "We been trying to reach you!" He looked at the phone on the desk and Johnny looked guilty, "That was my fault."_

_Max awkwardly looked at Spinelli and Johnny who weren't obviously dressed, "Um were you two…" Max insinuated and Spinelli and Johnny quickly chuckled "NOOOO."_

"_Okay then," Max still stared at them uncomfortable, "Um we need to get going."_

"_I agree," Spinelli looked at Johnny, "We're taking my car…" He pointed to the coffee table where the car keys were, "And you got a suit with you to wear in case..."_

"_Um I don't…"Johnny sheepishly looked at him._

"_I guess we could always run by that men's warehouse place…" Spinelli scratched his head as he motioned to the stairs, but a light bulb went off in Milo's head, "You can use one of Sonny's suits from the dry cleaners!" _

"_Milo," Max looked at him like it was a bad idea, but he refused to believe that, "There's one in the car."_

_They looked at Spinelli, unconsciously putting him in charge and he nodded, "There we go!" He made his way upstairs, "I'll send Lulu down." _

_Johnny turned away from Spinelli and then walked to Max and Milo, "Alright here's the plan."_

_Spinelli turned the corner where he heard Lulu consoling his fair Maximista._

"_Oh come on now," Lulu joined her on the bed, "Spinelli wouldn't be doing this unless…"_

"_Yeah right Lulu! Did you see him in there? The way he was HANDLING it all. Giving orders to Johnny and yelling at Bernie like he's some big shot!"_

"_You know how much Jason means to him. He and Jase have never really been the same since we stuck our nose in their business." _

"_I know, but gawd Lulu! I'm having a baby! A baby who needs two parents, god knows I'll be a horrible mother, but Spinelli…He'll be the best dad. And I'm scared to death that the second he walks out that door, I'm never going to see him again and that our child will never know him."_

_Lulu brushed her hand up and down Maxie's arm, "Are you sure that's what really scares you?" Lulu honestly looked at her, "Or is it that he might like working for Jason more than he ever has before…"_

_Spinelli wandered closer to the doorway to hear her answer. _

"_Lulu, Spinelli, he used to be…he used to be in a position where he wouldn't get himself hurt."_

"_Maxie he could always get hurt."_

"_No, Jason protected him because he knew he couldn't protect himself!"_

_Lulu slightly disagreed, "Jason never thought he was weak Maxie." _

"_But you do?" he stood in the doorway where they gazed up at him in surprise, "Thanks for the vote of confidence honey." He walked over to his closet to grab his duffel bag._

_Maxie looked at Lulu speechless. As he angrily threw the duffel back on the desk and then pulled his dresser drawer open to grab a stripped polo shirt and jeans, they had no idea how to approach him. He stepped into his closet, got dressed and then walked out to see they were still there staring at him. He took a moment to show off his disheartened expression to Maxie and then nodded away from her his dresser._

"_Spinelli," Maxie worryingly called his name._

"_Is that why you couldn't notice me before? I was too weak for the all mighty Maxie Jones to like me?" He insisted before turning to grab socks from his dresser where in doing so something pricked his finger. He pissingly looked back in drawer where he saw two small, but rather heavy metal objects. Carefully scooping them in his hand he smiled at the lost treasure. Stopping in front of his duffel bag he turned to look at Maxie, "Well if I can't have you as my lucky charm, these will do fine." He made the cufflinks visible and then tossed them in the bag where the crosses fell against a Sam Spade hat among other pieces of clothing. _

_Lulu felt the pressure to ease the tension between them so she did what Maxie didn't have the strength to do yet, "Spinelli that's not what we…"_

"_You know," he turned to them, "No one expected me to survive getting shot or survive the surgeries I've had, but I did." _

"_You just got out of the hospital," Maxie truthfully told him, "You're still catching up on your sleep, you can't handle getting hurt again."_

"_No that would be you," he zipped up his bag. _

"_You're right I can't. I can't fathom you getting hurt now that I know I'm in love with you and that we're having this family," she rested her hands over the baby._

"_Do you have little faith in me?"_

"_No Spinelli of course we don't," Lulu answered for Maxie where Spinelli jerked his head to her, "Lulu go say goodbye to Johnny this conversation doesn't concern you anymore." _

"_Like hell it does," Lulu walked towards him, "You're my friend too whether you want to acknowledge that or not." She watched as he looked away from her, breathing agitated. "This is not about us thinking you can't take care of yourself, it's about you being reckless!" _

"_Reckless? Reckless! You want to see reckless?" He grabbed his bag off the desk and threw it to the ground. "Is that being reckless? Huh?" He turned away from them where he shoved everything off his desk, "Is that reckless enough for you!" He looked at him the enraged, but knew all his behavior had done was scare them, "I'm sorry, but I wouldn't be doing this if I thought there was any other way!" _

"_There is!" Maxie raised her voice, getting up from the bed, "It's called let Jason pay for the decisions he made." She walked towards him, "It's called letting him take the fall for his arrogance. It's called not letting him drag you into this!" She stopped in front of him desperately looking into his eyes to not leave her._

"_Lulu," Spinelli upsettingly looked at her, "Can you please leave us alone?"_

"_Don't upset her anymore than you already have," Lulu pointed at him like she'd slap him if she returned to find Maxie crying._

"_I'll try not to," he insisted and Lulu discretely left. _

"_Maximista," he gently took her hand and walked her to the bed, "You need to stop getting yourself excited." He grazed his hand over her forehead and hair._

"_Stay." She squeezed his hand, "Show me that we're important to you."_

"_You are," he pulled her into an emotional kiss that left him leaning his forehead against hers, "You are important to me, which is why I have to do this."_

_She looked into his eyes completely confused, "I don't understand how you taking a meeting for Jason is going to…"_

"_It just will," he softly stroked his thumb along her cheek, "Believe that the Jackal knows what he is doing. Trust the jackal the way you trusted him that night when we made this little guy," he touched the baby. _

"_Girl," she slid her hand over his, "It's a girl Spinelli." _

"_Maybe there's a boy and a girl," he pondered the thought and she laughed unamused, "There better not be." _

"_You never know…" He smiled and she frowned, "Well if there is I want to find out with you," she cupped his cheek, somberly looking at him._

"_I'd never leave you to do this alone," he honestly looked at her, "Now," he glanced up at her trying to change subjects, "I want you to stop worrying," he wiped away her tears, "Because Dr. Lee said stress isn't good for the baby."_

"_I wouldn't stress if you'd just stop trying to prove yourself."_

"_Maxie," he looked her in the eyes, "I need to do this so that I never crave this life again."_

"_You already want back," she nodded her head in disappointedly knowing he secretly did._

"_I can't say that I'll never wish to be elsewhere when we're fighting," he saw her look away, but he cupped her cheek and brought her attention back to him, "But I'll always come back." _

"_Always?"_

_He nodded "Always" he interlaced his fingers with hers._

_She watched as their hands connected with each other, god she was afraid she'd never have these intimate moments with him again._

"_Maxie?" He called her name wanting her to look at him, "I don't want leave with you being angry at me."_

"_Just don't die on me okay?" She painfully looked up at him, "I will curse you forever if you do and start talking crazy like Lulu's step mother!" _

_He chuckled, "I'm not going anywhere, Maxie," he lifted her chin, "I can't move onto a life with you until I finish business here."_

_She slowly nodded, "I just don't want to do this without you." She touched the baby feeling more connected to him or her than ever before._

"_Your not going to, I'll be here as long as you want me," he stroked her blonde hair insisting things would be okay, "When I get back, I'll make it up to the both of you."_

_She softly smiled biting her lip as he kissed her cheek trying to comfort her further, "She gets upset when you're not here."_

_He chuckled with a bright smile, "Just like her mother."_

"_She doesn't like it when we argue," she looked up at him issuing an apology._

"_I fondly agree, we probably owe her for preventing us from saying things we'd regret," he smirked at her where she frailly smiled. _

"_I'm sorry Spinelli, I'm sorry for what I said to Jason, to back at Crimson, I do love you and I want to make this work with you more than anything."_

_He nodded, "as do I," he kissed her lips and then brought his attention to her abdomen by wandering his hands their, "I want you to be good for your mother, even though I think we're having a boy, she seems insistent on a girl."_

"_Spinelli!" She giggled. _

"_Either way," he smiled, "I will love you as much as I love your mother," he gazed up at her, "Take care of yourself," he kissed her neck and began to part from her. _

_She reluctantly still held his hand, "You be careful."_

"_I will," he grunted before quickly pulling her into a passionate kiss, "Max-ie…"_

"_Okay," she pulled away._

"_Please don't worry," he grabbed his leather Jacket off the floor and fixed the collar. He bent down to his duffel bag quickly glancing at it to see that it had what he need. When it did he looked up at her with a smile, "I'll be back before you know it and hopefully in one piece."_

"_That's not funny," she looked at him seriously, but he goofily smiled, "Get some rest, drink water, eat crackers, teach Lulu to cook some pasta," he amused the thought, "I love you, forever and always." He softly smiled where before she knew it he was no longer standing in the doorway. _

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"Smith eh?" The man questioned intrigued, "Any connection to Frank Smith?"

"Frank who?" Spinelli played dumb where the group laughed at his reaction, "These youngsters have no idea what it was like back then...Let him in Costello."

Costello closed the door behind him where he introduced everyone to him, "The big guy with the fake patch of hair is Costigan."

"Hey Costello, watch it! Okay! I'm tryin'."

"If you were tryin' you'd accept your old and be bald," Costello joked back, "The guy next to Costigan is Frankie Hill," he pointed to a slender man in black with shiny black hair.

"Hey, what you lookin' at?" Frankie nodded with a strong New York accent.

"Next to Frankie is Jimmy Carbone," he pointed to middle aged brown haired fellow with a small beer belly, but golden rings on his fingers, "You give me trouble young man and I'll wipe that smirk off your face!"

"Calm down Tommy, okay?" He glanced at Spinelli, "The last guy is Tommy Bunz. He owns the strip joint that you're former boss Sonny Corinthos used to own."

Spinelli smirked before walking towards the table where Costigan asked him another asinine question, "So Morgan sent you in his place?"

"Yes," Bernie spoke up but Spinelli interrupted, "Yes he did. He told me to rally a message to you all…"

"Oh?" Costigan cockily looked at him, "What's that?"

Spinelli jokingly look around the room as if the man's attitude wasn't bother some and then before the man knew it, Spinelli or this "Smith" fellow was right smack in his face with his hands pressing down on the table.

"Trust no one."

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_Knock. Knock. Knock. "Elizabeth it's Spinelli…and Johnny."_

_The door swung open and Elizabeth had the look of her heart in her throat. _

"_Maternal One?" Spinelli switched up his languages hoping she'd snap out of her fears._

_She glanced up at him making slow eye contact where he could see that she was much more than afraid._

"_The jackal is here," he stood closer to her where he gently touched her shoulder, "Tell me how is Stone Cold?" _

_She somberly looked away from to the couch where Spinelli looked on to see his master not looking so good. Spinelli glanced back at her where he found himself doing something very uncharacteristic of himself of at least who he was before his surgery. _

"_Elizabeth," he gently cupped her cheek, "Jason needs you. He needs you more than he ever has before."_

"_He should be in a hospital," her lip trembled, "Not lying here." _

_Spinelli nodded, "The Jackal knows many tales of the fair Elizabeth being scared," he saw her look away in disappointment of her self. "But" he gently grasped her chin, "He knows more of Fair Elizabeth's bravery." He brought her attention back to him and softly begged of her to put her personal love for Stone Cold away and be the caring nurse that Jason fell in love with many years ago._

"_Can you do that for me?" He honestly looked at her where just as she was about to say she'd try, two sweet voices rang from the bathroom._

_Spinelli surprisingly stared at the volunteers and then glanced down at Elizabeth for an explanation._

"_They offered to help."_

"_They?" He asked glancing up at Leyla._

_She didn't know why she was here. Maybe it was to help a friend or to help a co-worker or maybe it was to believe love still existed in a world she had yet to find it in._

"_He's staring at you Leyla," Nadine whispered. _

"_Yeah, he is," she smiled before shrugging her shoulders._

_Johnny cleared his throat, "Spinelli." He called where Spinelli looked at him only to follow his eyes to the man on the couch who was gesturing him to come over._

_Spinelli rushed to his side while everyone else stood in their place, "Stone Cold."_

"_Shhhh," Jason waved his hand so he would lower his excited tone, "Come here…" He motioned him closer. Spinelli leaned in until he couldn't lean in anymore. He was uncomfortable being so close to the man he adored so much mostly because the burns on his body made him someone else. _

"_Take it easy," Spinelli insisted as he could tell with every breath he ached._

"_Yooouuu…" Jason removed his bloody hand from his waist to tightly grab onto Spinelli's hand "Were right…" _

"_I-do-n't," Spinelli stuttered as he saw the bright amounts of blood seeping through his bandages, "Want to be right." Spinelli negatively nodded feeling as if this moment was about to get worse. His gut was right for Jason fiercely grabbed his leather jacket, "Rrrraaaatttt…" Blood spilled from his mouth. _

_Rat? Spinelli thought to himself, but who? Cody Paul was the name Jason whispered into his ear. Spinelli looked up at Jason who nodded as if he heard right. "Yoooou know…what __**needs**__ to be __**done**__." He faintly uttered before closing his eyes and Spinelli panicked. _

"_Elizabeth!" Spinelli shouted to her where as she, Leyla and Nadine crowed around the couch he felt Johnny's pull to give them the room he needed._

_Spinelli bitterly stared at Johnny in the face, "The name is Cody Paul." He inched closer in a hush tone, "Kill him."_

_Johnny didn't have to ask if he was sure, he could see it in his cold eyes, "Done." _

"_He's still alive," Leyla shouted hopefully as she took his pulse along his neck._

"_I concur," Nadine added after checking the pulse on his hand. _

_Spinelli turned to them, Leyla especially, upsettingly looking at her as if he needed a hug, but his eyes closed when he felt Elizabeth's arms._

"_It's going to be okay Elizabeth," he supported her in the way he knew Jason would want him too. He rubbed his hand in a circle along her back, "It's going to be okay." He said once more before looking at Johnny's back in the doorway. _

"_El-iz-a-be-th," Jason uttered and Elizabeth quickly broke from Spinelli to Jason's bedside._

_Spinelli let them have the small reunion they needed by walking to the window that overlooked the warehouse in which the meeting was supposed to take place in. He leaned his hands on the window seal and then somberly collapsed his head to the ground._

"_Spinelli?" Leyla touched his shoulder._

_He refused to look at her, but gave her the gratitude she deserved to hear, "Thanks."_

"_The burns aren't that bad Spinelli," she tried to convince him but he softly looked up at her in doubt, "Yeah they are and whoever did that to him is gonna pay." He walked from the window to behind the couch where he heard Jason and Elizabeth exchanging tender words. Leyla pouted at the filth that came out of his mouth, he had turned into a vengeful man so quickly that it worried her and she knew it would have worried Maxie. _

"_Mr. Spinelli?" Nadine softly uttered as he stood next to her without acknowledging her._

"_I'm sorry noble Nadine," he looked at her wishing he was handling this better, "Thank you for risking your career like this."_

_Nadine brightly smiled, "Aunt Raylene says there's nothing like the heart of a volunteer."_

"_No there isn't," he formed a small smile of gratitude towards her where she looked at him in surprise, "Mr. Spinelli you've got blood on your hands."_

_He looked down at his hands and began to go into shock until Leyla put her hand on his wrist, "Come on, let me wash it off."_

_He was so overwhelmed that he couldn't deny her. He leaned over the sink with the cold water running through his fingers and let her scrub the blood off with a soap that smelled as heavenly as her. She gazed up at him ever so often checking to see if he was still shock, but it seemed to ware off with the cool water. She turned the knob and then grabbed a towel and dried his hands off._

"_Spinelli?" She glanced up at him where he seemed to be back to normal._

"_Thanks," he formed a smile that was more like a frown, "Not just for this, but for coming over here. It means a lot to me."_

_She set the rag on a counter and then shrugged her shoulders, "What are friends for?"_

"_Yeah," he said monotone._

"_What are you going to do?" She asked feeling like there was more to Jason getting hurt and them coming over to access the situation._

_He shrugged his shoulders where slowly leaned himself against the counter, "Good question. Wish I knew, but I don't," he looked out the window to see Jason barely moving his lips. _

"_I'm sure you'll figure it out, Mr. Jackal is a smart man."_

"_I'm glad you seem to think so." _

"_Why Jason and Johnny don't think so?"_

"_No it's everyone else," he took a deep breath where she could see he was obviously stressed. _

"_Maxie and the baby?" She asked with no intention of stirring trouble, just trying to be a friend. _

_Spinelli slowly nodded, "And Lulu and Bernie and just people who think that because I wasn't brave and courageous and manly before I was shot that I can't be those things now."_

"_I'm sure they're just worried about you, especially Maxie, I mean you put her through a lot of hell."_

"_I know I did and believe me I know this is stressful, but sometimes," he looked away from Leyla frustrated, "Sometimes I just think your right."_

"_Right about?"_

"_Mr. Jackal?" Nadine knocked on the door not wanting to disturb her friends._

_Spinelli looked away from to crack in the doorway, "Mr. Morgan is asking for you." _

"_Okay," Spinelli leaned off the counter and turned to Leyla, "That I'll never make her happy." He sighed before leaving the room to see Johnny at Jason's bedside._

"_I explained everything to him Spinelli," Johnny got him up to date as Spinelli sat down on a stool._

"_Spin-e-lli," Jason barely spoke, "Will yooou do mmeee," he coughed where Elizabeth quickly came over with some pills and a glass of water. After he took the pills and drank some water he started again, "me another favor?" _

_Spinelli quickly nodded, "Anything for Stone Cold."_

"_Takkkke the…meeting, can you?" Jason asked afraid, "I get it…if you can't…Max and the baby are important to you."_

"_And so are you," Spinelli shortly smiled._

_Jason slowly smiled, "Ba-bernie…" He motioned with his hand, "Pha-phone."_

_Spinelli reached for his phone in his pocket, pressing 9 for speed dial and then held the phone to Jason's ear, "It's Jayson. I'm fiiinne, but Spine-lli should take the meet-ing."_

_Bernie's disagreements could be heard loud and clear, but Jason didn't seem to care what he thought, "He---'ll do fine Bern, you know that! Eh, Bern this is what I want…" Spinelli could hear Bernie quickly shutting up his opinions and wishing Jason to a speedy recovery._

"_Jason, are you sure?" Spinelli seriously asked as he slid his phone back into his pocket._

_Jason confidently nodded, "I owe you."_

"_No you don't," Spinelli gently touched his shoulder before getting up from his stool._

"_I do and I will return the favor," Jason assured him before getting back down to business, "Now you two got sumthin to wear?"_

"_Yeah we do," Johnny smirked._

"_Um," Elizabeth intruded, "You two can use the bathroom to get fixed up."_

"_Thanks," Spinelli nodded where he was about to leave with Johnny but Jason spoke up, "One last thing before I dose off," he motioned Spinelli to get close for he was really trying to keep the girls from hearing information that could hurt them._

"_John," Spinelli glanced at him after seeing that this was something very serious, "Why don't you go the car and get our bags?"_

_Johnny nodded where Elizabeth saw Jason's look of wanting them to be entirely left alone. "Girls why don't we get some fresh air."_

"_Good idea," Nadine glanced at Leyla who was caught in a stare with Spinelli, "Aunt Raylene always said Fresh air is good for the soul." Nadine emphasized before dragging Leyla out of the room._

"_Spinelli," Jason spoke clearly now with the pills obviously working to ease his pain, "You need to tell the group that the Russians can't be trusted."_

"_I think that's a given," Spinelli humored seriously, "But more like no one can be trusted."_

"_No," Jason disagreed, "And don't you mention Sonny."_

"_I'm not going to, but he and Cody are proof that we have to watch our backs and do everything possible to keep the peace."_

"_I agree, but you will not bring up Sonny. If they ask how I'm handling the business you say…"_

"_Fine, I know."_

"_Spinelli," Jason stressed where Spinelli turned to him with his hands on his hips, "Don't worry I'll watch my mouth."_

"_Hey," Jason looked at him taken back, "Don't be like that. I trust you."_

"_Do you really?"_

"_you have to ask?"_

"_Sorry," Spinelli frowned, "Sorry Jason but everyone is questioning me. Maxie, Lulu, Bernie…If I don't have your true support, I won't do it."  
_

"_What's wrong with you and Maxie?" Jason asked honestly like he was concerned for there wellbeing as a couple._

_Spinelli nodded his head like he didn't know where to begin._

"_Spinelli, I've dealt with pregnant women before and I know that my safety is usually a factor that worries them, whether I'm the father of their baby or not…If I'm coming between…"_

"_Your not," Spinelli quickly defeated the thought where he frustratingly sat on the stool in front of him. _

"_Spinelli I know that look," Jason eyed him really wanting to know what the deal was._

"_Stone cold," Spinelli sighed as he looked at his hand, "Everything I do is wrong."_

_Jason chuckled before quickly becoming in pain, "Everything?"_

"_It's not funny," he chuckled before becoming quiet, "I'm not supportive enough, I'm not caring enough, I'm not serious enough…I don't understand it."_

"_Well, all I can say is that pregnant women get moody. They're going through so many changes that one minute they'll love you and the next, they'll hate you."_

_Spinelli pondered his suggestion for it made sense. Maxie loved him this morning, was angry at him this early afternoon, was sorry in the afternoon, happy in the late afternoon and then upset in the evening. _

"_It's just tiring Stone Cold. I mean I want to tell everyone. I want to shout it from the rooftops and tell everyone I get to be a dad that I get to do better than my own father. She though, she doesn't want to whisper it to anyone and when I accuse her…"_

"_Oh," Jason rolled his eyes, "First, never accuse a pregnant woman of anything."_

"_But."_

"_No, buts, she is always right. Whatever she wants, goes." _

"_Then what kind of rights do I have?" Spinelli confusingly looked at him where Jason frowned, "I'm sorry bud, none."_

"_What?" Spinelli looked appalled._

"_Spinelli. Maxie, is all about image. She works in a business where reputation is key."_

"_And being pregnant looks bad."_

"_Even if you two were married, she's young."_

"_So you think she's embarrassed basically."_

"_No, I think she just needs time."_

"_How much time?" Spinelli stood up angry, "I mean sometimes Stone Cold, sometimes she acts like this is the worst thing that's ever happened to her. How is that supposed to make me feel?"_

_Jason really didn't know what to say for most of the women he had been with who ended up pregnant were happy, just not prepared. _

"_I'm already a burden to a lot of people in my life, I don't want to be a burden to her and certainly not that child." _

"_Spinelli is there a chance you're taking everything out of…"_

"_No!" Spinelli stood with his hands on his hips, "But today it was like she loved me then she was angry at me because I gave her future boss a lecture about how okay it is for women who are pregnant to be in the work force. Then I'm a jerk because I insist that she doesn't really want a life with me. Then when she came over, she was all sorry for making me feel like she was stuck with me, then after you leave we argue and suddenly I'm not committed to her because I'm doing work for you even though I just got a job working for Jax. Then I have to feel guilty for yelling at her because she almost passes out. Some how we make up and have sex…"_

"_Woah! Spinelli!" Jason raised his voice in disturbance, "Where?" Jason eyed him annoyed._

"_My bedroom, don't worry," he continued pacing, "And um Maxie wants the couch if you don't mind."_

"_I don't sit on it anymore, its yours, but…Spinelli!" Jason shouted wishing he would stop pacing for it was making him sick, "Sit down!"_

"_I'm sorry Stone cold," he sat down, "here I am being selfish when you're in pain."_

"_No, don't worry about that," he paused feeling very tired suddenly, "Look the only advice I can give you is to just talk to her. Don't accuse her though. Women get very sensitive and by the look of Maxie when I opened the door, she was very upset with the argument you two had earlier."_

"_Stone Cold…"_

"_No listen to me! I think Maxie is just scared. I don't know her very well, but I know that she's had it tough with men and her parents haven't made the situation better. She's not confident when it comes to commitment because everyone leaves her and as I've just realized you probably coming here against her wishes I presume…" He nodded affirmative, "Proves that her and the baby won't stop you from doing what you want to do. You have got to prove to her that you will never leave her."_

"_I've told her."_

"_Actions speak louder than words Spinelli, now do you understand why you can never come to work for me again as long as you want to be a family man?"_

_Spinelli reluctantly nodded, "Yes."_

"_Your life is them now not me. It's been a damn good privilege having you serve me and I will miss you, but it has to end."_

"_Can we still be friends?"_

_He slowly nodded no, "It's better if we don't ever see each other again."_

"_No, I can't do that. You're like a brother, a father to me sometimes, how am I supposed to…"_

"_You will," Jason insisted, "And when you hold your child for the first time or when you look Maxie in the eyes as you say your wedding vows, you're going to be damn happy that your get to have those moments."_

"_Stone Cold," Spinelli grunted as he felt himself tearing apart._

"_You WILL. This moment right now will pass you by will be insignificant to the moments to come. I don't know how many times I have to say it to you, but cherish, cherish what you have with Maxie and the family you're going to have."_

_Spinelli clenched his jaw with tears built up in his eyes, he hated the truthful words Jason spoke to him. It wasn't fair, but too much had happened to ever convince Jason that happy endings do exist for people in his world._

"_Because," Jason softly concluded his motivational goodbye speech, "If you don't, if you don't cherish it…" The door opening interrupted him where Jason saw Elizabeth's face. She was the constant reminder of missed opportunities. "You're never going to get it back."_

_Spinelli regretfully nodded where he stood up from the stool and held his hand out, "There won't be a day that I won't think of thanking you for everything you've done for me."_

"_Kid," Jason bit his lip, "You have nothing to thank me for. You did it all on your own."_

_And that's what Damian Spinelli was going to miss about Jason Morgan. The constant reminder that he was so much more than anyone ever gave him credit for. It was a partnership that he was sure he'd never find again. Goodbye Stone Cold, so long._

"_Hey," Johnny entered, "Let's get going, we're running out of time." _

"_Yeah," Spinelli looked at him and then nodded to Jason, letting go of the hand he'd sadly believe he'd never hold again. _

"_Remember what I said Spinelli," Jason softly smiled at him, "Remember the words of your master, your Mr. Myagi, your wingman."_

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"Trust no one?" The man asked where a guy next to him suddenly asked, "What the hell is that supposed to me."

"Men," Spinelli backed away, "It means watch your backs. The Russians are in town looking for port and as you know, they're dangerous, dangerous people who will play a little roulette if they have to."

"Why should we take your word for this?" Frankie shrugged his shoulders, "You think you can come in here and say your Morgan's second or whatever and we believe it?"

"Fine, you want my credentials? I've worked for Lorenzo Alcazar, Sonny Corinthos and the current Jason Morgan. I got Mr. Morgan off death row last year and his ex girl friend out of numerous charges in 2006. In 2007, I assisted Jason Morgan in rescuing his family and others when the Metro Court Hotel was taken hostage by James Craig."

"Can you confirm this?" Tommy glanced at Max, Milo and Bernie.

"Yes sir," Max nodded, "He saved us all in there."

"Bernie?" Tommy looked at him knowing Bernie longer than Max, "What do you have to say about Mr. Smith here?"

"Well except for his cocky attitude, he's been an impeccable resource to the organization. His skills are one of a kind and I guarantee Mr. Morgan would not be as successful as he is or would be alive if it weren't for him."

The men looked fairly convinced, but Costigan still looked unconvinced, "Zacchara boy, you never come to these meetings which means you've got something to say on behalf of this young man."

"He helped me escape murder…"

"OH that's right, you're with Luke Spencer's gal," Jimmy nodded, "Impressed, you must enjoy having Luke for a father in law," Jimmy winked.

"We're not married, but yes, he's a good guy, his daughter is a good friend of Damian's here," Johnny glanced up at him where Spinelli smiled.

"Quite the man with connections, aren't you?" Costigan smiled like he still didn't like the guy.

"Yeah, but Johnny forgot to mention that I also took out…what was it two or three of your father's men?"

"Get the Fuck outta here," Jimmy shouted raising his fist where Johnny chuckled, "He did. He killed my father's best men."

"Well shit," Jimmy smiled brightly, "If you could kill his men and survive, your good in my book."

"Wait," Frankie eyed him oddly, "I've seen you somewhere, yeah, guys he's the guy that's got a shoe in now with the Port Charles Police Department."

"You're Damian Spinelli?" Tommy pointed where Spinelli reluctantly nodded, "Yes."

"Why didn't you say so?" Frankie chuckled in awe that he was near him, "We got ourselves a real legend in here!" He excitedly punched the other guys.

"Yeah why didn't you, Mr. Smith?" Costigan questioned why his name was kept secret.

"Costigan, stop picking on the guy," Tommy looked at him, "Obviously he wants to keep a low profile, if you were in the news as much as he's been."

"Morgan out of all people would have wanted honesty from him, come on, kid answer the question."

"You don't have to answer him," Jimmy glared at Costigan, "Why you being a dick?"

"Cause his girl friend is the Police Commissioner's daughter! For all we know he's giving them information."

"Fuck you," Spinelli turned to his people, "Let's get outta here." He turned to the men, "If you don't want to hear what I have to tell you about the Russians, you wait till they strike your organization like they struck ours and let's see who doesn't show up to the next meeting."

"Woah," Jimmy quickly stood up, "Morgan was hit?"

Bernie eyed Spinelli not to say anything so Spinelli turned to him, "I'm not allowed to disclose such information, but we found a rat. He's been taken care of, but you all can't be too careful."

"Costigan," Jimmy glanced at him, "We're over ruling you here. Sit down Damian, I don't give a fuck what your last name is."

Spinelli turned to the men, "You don't?"

"No, now if you're saying that someone infiltrated your organization, the toughest organization to get into that I know of, then speak."

"You really want to know?" Spinelli asked them glaring at Costigan who nodded, "Yeah get off your high horse and sit the hell down."

Spinelli smirked, "Good," he sat down where he jokingly told them, "I was going to tell you guys all along," he amused and they laughed in surprise.

"And as for my last name, I just wanted to see how you'd all react if a Smith did return to the business."

"So you do know who Frank Smith is?" Costigan asked surprised.

"Of course I know who Frank Smith is, you can't get far in Port Charles, in this business if you don't know how it all started."

And that was enough to pass Costigan's test, "You're a funny guy Damian."

"I told ya guys!" Johnny wrapped his arm around him, "Don't you just love this guy!" Johnny pointed to him and everyone seemed to be amused by the personality in front of them.

"Guys the key is, family." Spinelli started, "And what we're going to do to protect it. Nobody wants what happened to Corinthos's kid to happen to us. We don't want to lose our children, our wives or girl friends, hell we don't want to lose anyone, right?"

The men nodded in agreement and Spinelli smiled like he was actually making progress, "Right and I know my boss is not willing to risk the lives of his men for Karpov."

"But he's becoming a problem Damian, you just said that, we can't just ignore him," Frankie honestly looked at him with the other members agreeing.

"No we can't, but we got to be careful how we orchestrate all this. We got to work together in showing Karpov that running business in Port Charles is going to be more trouble than he thought!"

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_**IN STONE COLD'S KITCHEN!**_ Lulu and Maxie stood in the kitchen over the stove at the pasta that had been cooking for far too long.

"This doesn't look right," Maxie nervously looked at Lulu who said, "No it doesn't." She stirred a large wooden spoon before trying to test the pasta, "Shoot I think we burned it."

"Burned it?" Maxie looked at her where Lulu got defensive, "Don't look at me, your sister is the one that knew how to do all the cooking, didn't Georgie ever teach you…"

"No!" Maxie whined, "I was too busy being the Bad Blonde one to think twice about learning all things pasta like."

"Gah!" Lulu frustratingly took the pan and poured the water into sink, "What a waste."

"Well now what?" Maxie wiped her hands off with the hand towel and then leaned against the counter.

"Guess we could order out?"

"But Spinelli and Johnny are expecting a home cooked meal lulu, I think they'll be able to tell if it's in a box."

"Oh nonsense, we'll order spaghetti from the Metro Court and put it on some plates. They won't know the difference." Lulu dumped the pasta into the trash, "Ha we should have put this in the fridge for Jason to eat. I would pay big bucks to see his face turn squeamish and confused for why it tastes so bad."

Maxie huffed in a spurt of laughter, "You think Jason is okay?"

Lulu nodded confidently, "Spinelli got his name right when he called him Stone Cold. He's a rock, physically and emotionally."

"Emotionally?" Maxie teased, "When have you gotten to know Jason Morgan emotionally?"

"When we were looking for Spinelli," Lulu giggled, "I was still a little down about the abortion, not regretting it, just accepting what had happened and Jason was able to relate in some form," Lulu lost her words for a second.

"Do you regret it now?" Maxie asked honestly.

"No," Lulu slowly nodded where she turned her attention to Maxie sitting down at the table, "Dillon didn't love me. I don't doubt that he would have been a great a father, but it wouldn't have been right to bring a child into the world that was only half wanted."

Maxie who was resting her palm in her cheek nodded, "And you didn't really want the baby"

Lulu shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. Not like the way it happened. Spinelli made me feel better about the decision saying I was too hot to be a mother." She giggled where her and Maxie said "And so was Sam" at the same time.

Lulu softly humored, "The thing is, I don't really want any children."

"Not with Johnny?"

Lulu nodded no, "And it's not because of the accident with Michael, I mean I would feel guilty that here I had this wonderful child and Carly was still mourning for a son that would never wake up."

"So what happened down here a few hours ago…"

"Didn't change anything," Lulu slightly frowned, "He was upset and I'm upset, it's just an upsetting situation that he and I can't get passed this at the moment." Lulu sighed and then walked to the handset and grabbed the phone where she placed an order for spaghetti.

Lulu hung up the phone, "Should be here in twenty minutes," Lulu sat down at the table, "So you and Spinelli had a good time I presume?"

A small smile formed over her lips, "Yeesss."

"Who would have ever thought you'd go for the geeky type?" Lulu smirked where Maxie gasped, "Well he's not much of a geek anymore."

"You noticed?" Lulu asked as if she had noticed it a long time ago.

"I know he's there. I mean I know the guy that I made this baby with is there, but sometimes Lulu…"

"Like in the bedroom?" Lulu thought and Maxie nodded.

"I don't know where it comes from and earlier, when we were arguing and I almost passed out, he suddenly became this guy who he thought I regretted him in my life."

"What?"

"I know," she shrugged her shoulders, "He was saying things like the night we were first together was his fault, that he shouldn't have taken advantage of me."

Lulu looked at her just as surprised, "Well I mean I guess I can see how he might think that. God knows we were all walking on egg shells those days, but really?"

"The only other time I've seen him put himself down like, talk with such sadness is at Vista Point when he was talking about his family. It's like he thinks he's a burden of some sort to me."

"He's not right?" Lulu checked.

"Noo," Maxie answered offended, "I've never meant to give him that impression, but…"

"Well," Lulu eyed her with doubt, definitely taking Spinelli's side here, "Thinking hypothetically, if you don't really want to have this baby with him, he could see it that way. He could see himself as a burden to you and leave you completely."

"What do you mean?" Maxie worriedly leaned in.

"Maxie, he grew up feeling like he ruined the lives of the people he was around. If he even suspects that he's doing it to you, he'll leave, he'll go to a place where he doesn't have to feel unwanted."

"But I do want him."

"Good because I hate to think that I threw away my friendship with him for someone who..."

"Lulu, I'm trying really hard to get him to patch things up with you."

"I appreciate that, but Spinelli and I will find our way back. We always do, my concern though is you." Lulu got up from the chair and sat closer to her, "Maxie you do want him right? I mean you're not giving him false hope for no reason right?" She eyed Maxie who was slightly speechless, "Maxie."

"No!" Maxie suddenly raised her voice, "I'm not."

"Maxie, please don't." Lulu shook her head, "I mean I'll admit when I was pregnant I was insecure about Dillon and I know Carly and Elizabeth have felt insecure about the men they've had babies with. But you will absolutely crush him if he finds…"

"He won't," Maxie looked up at her, "Because I don't feel like that."

"Alright," Lulu carefully looked at her, "I'm just asking these things because I don't want to see either of you get hurt."

"I know," Maxie nodded, "Thank you," she smiled where she began to chuckle, "I'm starting to think I should be more concerned with your connection to Spinelli than his with Leyla."

Lulu rolled her eyes, "Spinelli doesn't do it for me. You'll never have to worry about him and…" She insinuated and Maxie sighed in a playful relief.

"Really? Because sometimes it seems like you know Spinelli better than I do."

"Oh yeah right," Lulu rolled her eyes, "I mean," she got up from the chair, "Spinelli and I understand each other in the way that we had people around us who didn't really care about us. I mean at least you had Mac, he loves you, but Spinelli and I just didn't have that family unit."

"But you had Lucky and Nicholas?" Just like she had Georgie and Robin.

"I guess that makes me luckier," Lulu removed some candles from the cabinet, "Spinelli has no siblings at least none that he's ever mentioned." She set them on the counter, "I guess he had it worse than all of us," she walked to the cabinet and grabbed some plates, "But that's how Spinelli and I relate." She set for plates on the table, "For the most part we've got nothing else in common." Lulu kindly smiled, "So you've got nothing to worry about and I wouldn't let Leyla go to your head, Spinelli is all about you."

Maxie smiled at Lulu, "I think Jason has matches on top of the fridge."

"Right!" Lulu perked and walked over to the fridge and grabbed them, "So…"

"So?" Maxie comically pondered.

Lulu struck the match and then bent over to light the candle, "So has Spinelli named the baby yet?"

Maxie for some reason found herself instinctively touching the baby with a small smile, "Well he calls it wee one…"

"And every other baby," Lulu playfully rolled her eyes.

"Yes," Maxie giggled, "When he's not trying to convince me it's going to be Jackal junior," she paused to quickly laugh with Lulu, "It's mini fashionista or blonde one."

"Well I'm glad he still talks Jackal, I was afraid his surgery had completely removed it from his mind."

"Ye-ah," Maxie somewhat frowned for she missed his constant banter.

"You actually miss it?" Lulu smirked at her until Maxie slowly nodded with tears in her eyes, "Oh Maxie I didn't mean to upset you."

"No you haven't," she wiped the tears from her eyes, "It's just that…Like we said earlier, he's just different."

Lulu ushered a box of Kleenexes to her, "Doesn't mean he loves you any less."

Maxie took a tissue, "I know, but he just didn't used to show his emotions so easily."

"Wouldn't you rather know what he's feeling then have him keep it from you?"

"Yes, but…"

"But," Lulu sat down next to her, "I know it's hard to bear."

Maxie huffed like she had no idea, but Lulu elaborated, "Johnny was like that when I first met him. He had these range of emotions that I had never seen in anyone. He was angry all the time, except when it came to me." Lulu looked up at Maxie with a soft smile, "I was the glimmer of happiness in his dark life and maybe that's what you are to Spinelli." Lulu smiled while shrugging her shoulders, "I'm going to go upstairs and make myself look presentable, okay?" Lulu got up from the chair, "Cheer up. Spinelli's mobbing days is over! You've got him around your little finger just like every other guy you've been with."

"Oh shut up," Maxie laughed, "You're one to talk!"

Lulu evilly smiled as she backed to the doorway "Guess we're both pretty damn bad."

"Yeah," Maxie smirked right back at her before she ran upstairs.

Maxie decided she probably needed to fix up herself so she walked into the bathroom downstairs and fixed her make up. She used the pins from her purse to pin up her hair and then took a deep breath, "Everything is going to be okay." She told herself feeling like a hopeless moron, when were things ever okay? Despite wearing Spinelli's black t-shirt and plaid boxers she figured she looked pretty good for the time being, at least okay to answer the door if someone was to arrive. She walked into the kitchen with her plate of crackers and her Ginger Ale and set them on the counter. She opened the cabinet above her and was surprised to see wine glasses. It was a shame that Jason had all these nice things and no one to share them with. Sad indeed, but great for her! She took the glasses, set them on the counter and then walked over to the other side of the stove where the bottle of wine was. She turned the radio on next to it and turned up the song "Just you and me" by Jayson Belt.

She poured glass after glass, smelling the wine knowing she couldn't take a sip at least not until after the first trimester, and set the glasses on the sweet table that now looked heavenly set for a date. The only thing that would make this more romantic is the…lights? She oddly wondered why her thought had suddenly come true as the lighting turned dim. Setting the glass down and the bottle she heard footsteps come to a halt.

_Baby, it's you and me, we got a thing that can't shake._

"Now that has to be the sexiest thing I've seen all day."

She smiled in excitement, quickly turning her back to the counter and speechlessly starred at him leaning on the doorframe in a magnificent suit with a bouquet of flowers.

_Maybe it's a little hard sometimes to take, but I'll tell you something, it's a life worth living._

"Spinelli!" She ran to him where as soon as she was in his arms he picked her up, "How's my Maximista?" He felt her kisses all over him and got the impression that she was doing quite fine.

_Just so you know, I wouldn't give it up no._

"Okay Maxie…" He giggled, setting her down where she gazed up at him with a smile he certainly couldn't shake, "These are for you."

She took the baby pink, orange and yellow colored roses in her hands and smelled them, "What are these?" She quizzed knowing full well they weren't her favorite Daisies.

"Well," he wrapped his hand behind around her waist, "I thought we'd try something a little different this time."

"I see," she looked at him very observant.

"These my darling Maximista are Flora Danika."

"Danika," she softly smiled like the name had a ring to it.

"That's what I thought," he softly smiled before wrapping his hand around her waist and holding her close, "It means morning star and I think our little girl will the be the shinning star of our lives."

_System fails hard & we fall apart sometimes_

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pleasantly smiled at him, "You did good."

_But then you pull me back with your quiet smile_

She pulled him into a sweet kiss where he felt like perhaps for the first time all day things were finally okay. She pulled away from the short kiss to set the flowers on the counter until he motioned to leave, "I'm gonna go change."

"No," she set the flowers on the table instead, "I think you look handsome."

He negatively nodded, "No you don't. I strongly remember Maximista saying the Jackal looked like a pampas ass in dark menacing colors."

"Well if I was to make a suggestion," she innocently smiled walking towards him.

"And what suggestion would the Fair Blonde One like to make?"

She removed his hat where she saw his Aussie hairstyle, "Spinelli…"

"Maxie," he raised an eyebrow where she reacted by throwing his hat like a Frisbee to the pool table.

She seductively smiled at him and moved her hands to the long coat he had on.

"Max," he started as he somewhat helped her removed the layers of he had on.

"First," she looked up at him as the coat was slowly falling down from his elbows, "It's too hot to wear black." The coat fell to the floor and she backed him against the doorframe, "Second, if you're going to wear it, there's no need for three layers of it." She motioned to removed the jacket until Johnny walked in hand in hand with Lulu, "Woah guys…" Johnny joking covered his eyes, "Take it upstairs."

Lulu playfully hit Johnny, "Oh stop it," she looked up at Johnny with this goofy smile until the door bell rang.

"Oh that would be the food you guys can't cook," Johnny teased and Lulu scaled to the door, "Whatever!" Johnny laughed looking away from her to Spinelli and Maxie who were giggling in hush tones of embarrassment.

Johnny walked over to the pool table putting the hat on, "You think if had worn something like this I would have sold them as you did?"

Spinelli grinned, "You had them in your Sonny Corinthos suit."

"Well if you two hadn't been fooling around on the couch, Lulu would not have run into me and we would not have been…Point is I had no other choice…"

Spinelli coughed, "But to be the sleaze ball."

Johnny walked over to him, "Hey!" He pushed the hat against Spinelli's chest, "You go to do what you got to do."

Spinelli laughed putting the hat on, "And we did it pretty well didn't we?"

"Oh we knocked it out of the ball park," Johnny teased until Lulu came running in with bags, "Hot and heavy!"

"Just like I like it!" Johnny tapped her ass and Lulu, most definitely turned on, surprisingly glanced at him, "Johnny!" He grinned as happy as ever and followed her into the kitchen.

"Maxie," Lulu looked over her shoulder, "You want to help me out?"

"Yeah," she said looking at Spinelli, "I'll see you in a few?"

"Yea, I'm just gonna take a quick shower, get this goo that you don't like, out of my hair."

"Thank you," she smiled and he kissed her cheek before turning away from her making his way up the stairs.

"Soooo," Lulu turned to Johnny who pulled a chair out, twirled it and was now sitting on backwards, "How did it go? How's Jason?"

"Um I don't know if I should talk about it," Johnny nervously said as Maxie made her way back in the room where she glared at Johnny with a smile, "Don't hold anything back because of me!"

"Oh!" Lulu cheered, "Carly must have known we were ordering out, she gave us a little note!" She looked at Johnny to perhaps not say anything or if he was just watch what he says.

"Well the meeting went great," Johnny mused, "Spinelli is a chip off the old block."

"Grrreat," Lulu grinned at Maxie, "And what about Jason?" She then whispered to Maxie as if Johnny's answer would be back ground noise, "Carly sent us a chocolate cake…John, what about Jason?" She glanced at him and he looked at her speechless.

"Johnny?" Lulu looked at him seriously.

"Jason is okay right?" Maxie looked at him wondering why he was taking so long to answer. She tried to remember if Spinelli hinted anything that would have suggested otherwise, but he didn't.

"Like you really care Maxie," Johnny uttered under his breath a little angry at her fake care for the man.

"I do." Maxie stood there with her hands on her hips, "Spinelli didn't mention anything so I assume he lives to see tomorrow."

Johnny nodded annoyed, "You know it doesn't really matter." He got up from the chair to grab a beer from the fridge.

"Yes it does," Maxie eyed him as she handed him the beer, "Is he okay?"

Johnny walked away with his head down, "He was barely alive when we got there, hell if Elizabeth hadn't called Nadine and Leyla," Maxie quickly looked at him, "I think he might have died."

"Maybe I should call Carly," Lulu looked down at the food, "Was he really that bad John?"

"You know I said too much," Johnny frowned taking a drink, "I just know that it'll probably be the last time Spinelli and Jason ever talk."

"Why do you say that?" Lulu turned to him.

"What do you mean?" Johnny asked wondering what kind of stupid question was that.

"Well I mean I'm sure Jason and Spinelli will see each other around."

"I wouldn't count on it," Johnny tried to say as nicely as possible where the two looked at him wondering what his words were supposed to mean.

"Look, I just heard a conversation before we left. Jason gave him some information about the meeting, gave him some advice about life, wished him good luck and that was it. Bada Bing."

"Bada Bing?" Maxie mocked.

"Yeah over and done with," Johnny explained the expression where his phone rang before he could further discuss the topic that should have never been spoken.

"Hello?" Johnny answered getting up from the chair, "Yes did you find the said individual?" Johnny walked out of the room.

Maxie and Lulu slowly looked at each other knowing there was so much more going on than what Johnny let on, "I think I'm going to go upstairs and check on Spinelli."

"Okay," Lulu nodded, "I'll prepare everything down here."

"Thanks," Maxie smiled and then left the kitchen to see Johnny hanging up the phone.

"Max," Johnny called her name just as she was about to walk up the stairs. He walked over to her and whispered, "Hey I know it's not really my business, but if you could just be a little easy on Spinelli tonight or for the next couple of days…Spinelli was a little upset as was Jason, I mean they both knew it would come to this some day…"

"No, yeah of course," Maxie nodded with a heart felt smile.

"Thanks, I mean don't get for one second that he doesn't love you but he is sort of closing a chapter of his life that was primarily meant for bachelor guys and he's got you and kid now sooo."

"John," Maxie set her hand on his shoulder, "I get it, now go in the kitchen and try to convince Lulu to give you another chance."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm trying!"

"I know," she sympathetically frowned, "Good luck."

"Thanks."

Maxie walked upstairs where as she turned into his room he was standing at his desk in jeans, a white Hanes tank top and a white towel over his shoulder, putting the things he knocked off earlier back onto his desk.

"Hey," she knocked on the open door.

"Hey," he glanced down at the mini globe his hand, "Look I got the whole world in my hands."

She giggled at his quirky humor in the doorway and then entered the room.

"I'll be down stairs in a few minutes Maxie, you don't have to come up here and…"

"Did you want to talk, about what happened with Jason?" She nervously asked holding her hand.

He set the globe on the desk and then picked up a few books, "There's nothing to say really."

"Oh," Maxie sat on the bed, "Because Johnny…"

"Well Johnny shouldn't have said anything to you or Lulu," he put the books on the desk and then check the carpet for anything else, "Because if something goes wrong, you two could be liable to testify against us."

"Oh," Maxie never thought of it like that, "What would we do if that happened?"

Spinelli looked over his shoulder, "Get married. You would marry me and Lulu would marry Johnny, spouses don't have to testify against each other."

Maxie nodded like it was almost too much information, "Maxie?" Spinelli turned to her, "That's not going to happen." He walked over to her where she nervously asked, "Are you sure?"

He nodded sitting down, "Yes and if there is something I learned today…it's that I will never go back to the mob."

"Spinelli," she uttered unsure of the promise he was making.

"Maxie," Spinelli looked away from her grabbing the towel from his neck, "I've seen a lot happen to Jason. I've seen him get shot, get stabbed, and get cuts and bruises from explosions." Spinelli paused thinking back to the image of Jason when he walked in. He put his hand over his mouth, "It was so bad Maxie, so very bad."

Maxie could see he was really shaken up about this, "He'll be okay." She touched his shoulder, "Elizabeth will take good care of him."

He humored himself like even Elizabeth couldn't fix it, "She had to call Leyla and Nadine to do his bandages and you may not like Elizabeth and you're entitled to your own opinion Maxie, but I have heard many things about Elizabeth and weak is not one of them."

Maxie tenderly rubbed his shoulder as she once again realized the truth to Johnny's words.

"She was crying so much, looking at me for answers that I didn't have," he glanced at Maxie with his lip trembling, "He could ba-barely talk."

Maxie frowned seeing him this upset, she put her hands on his cheeks and he looked away to his hands, "Blood was all over my hands, I didn't have the strength to wash it off."

"Who washed it off?" She asked as she interlaced her hand with his.

He was hesitant to tell her, "Please don't be mad," he looked up at her like he really needed her to not make a big deal out of this.

She softly smiled at him, squeezing his hand while her other hand fixed his hair, "Was it Leyla?"

He slowly nodded, "I never want to have blood on my hands again."

"Oh Spinelli," she whined pulling him into a hug where he cried on her shoulder, "I get it Maxie, I get what you went through and that's why I'll never return to that line of work with you two in my life."

"Okay," she quietly shushed him kissing the cheek closest to hers and cupping the other, "I believe you." What he did next she didn't understand, but it was apparent to her that this was something they'd always have to work on.

"Ah," he leaned away from her, sniffling and then getting up from the bed to her reluctance, "I'm sorry." He said with his back to her, "I shouldn't have broken down like that."

"Spin-elli," she softly smiled, "It's alright."

"No", he looked at her in disappointment of himself, "It's pathetic."

"Hey," she got up from his bed walking towards him, "There is nothing pathetic about what just happened right there." She stopped in front of him, "Spinelli we have to talk about the things we're feeling."

"I know," he looked at her still very embarrassed at his behavior, "But not like that, I..."

She grabbed his hand and put it over her heart, "Spinelli it's me. It's the woman you love. You can tell me anything; I'd be hurt if you didn't. I'll always listen like you listen to me."

He nodded, but still didn't feel right in entailing those details to her, "Thank you." He leaned in to kiss her forehead, "But really I'm fine."

She looked at him not convinced and he looked at her not to try to convince him otherwise, "I'm more worried about you Maxie."

"Me?" She looked at him wondering he was serious, "You've had a more stressful day than me."

"No," he backed away to the bathroom, "I believe you have. You should sit down..."

"Spinelli," she walked towards him, "Don't you say it…"

"In your condition," he chuckled.

"Spinelli!" She playfully ran to him where she playfully hit him in the arm, "You are not going to be telling me that the entire time I'm pregnant."

He giggled putting a defense up, "Oh yeah?" He leaned in, "What are you gonna do about it?" He inched closer, "Deprive me of…"

"Aw you want to bet?" She eyed him like he definitely didn't want to go there. Little did she know the towel in his hands was twisted ever so tight ready to hit her ass the second she turned around to prove her point.

"Do ya?" She looked at him and when he just grinned at her, she turned away from where a second after he smacked her but, "Spinelli!"

He threw the towel to the ground as she ran towards him ready to give him a piece of her mind, "Aw watcha gonna do my sassy Maxie?"

She pulled him into a kiss wrapping her arms around him and he lifted her onto the bed where smothered her in kisses.

"Spinelli!" she giggled becoming overwhelmingly ticklish.

He lifted her shirt and tickled her sides before blowing his lips on waist. Before he knew it she was begging him to stop, "Please Spinelli," she laughed crazily, "Gawd I have to go pee now!"

He stopped his hands, "You know we should go on vacation to Niagara Falls…"

"Spinelli!" She leaned up from the bed, "Not funny!" She ran to the bathroom.

"Did you drink lots of water while I was out!"

"Spinelli!" She shouted as the door closed.

Spinelli turned over on the bed, lying on his back and giggled. After sighing in relaxation he leaned up from the bed and grabbed his black dress shirt hanging over the back of his chair. He put it on and then began to tuck it in when she walked out.

"I guess we should probably head down then," she said walking to her clothes.

"I could bring the food up? We'll just sit and talk, watch a movie."

"As good as that sounds," she sat on the bed taking his shirt off and putting hers on, "I think we should probably go downstairs."

"And take part in the double date from Hell," he grinned while buttoning his shirt.

"They'll be back together soon," she put her jeans on, "They just need a little time and space to figure things out."

"I suppose. I don't really understand why they're not together, but this is just typical Lulu," he buttoned the last button, "Does Maximista want to style my hair or shall I?"

"It looks just like I like it" she goofily smiled and he turned to the mirror on the back of his door, "A mess."

"Well", she walked towards him, "You are my favorite mess." She stopped in front of him quickly fixing it, "There we go." They got lost in each other's eyes until they heard a cough followed by a knock by Johnny and Lulu.

"If you two love birds wouldn't mind," Johnny smirked, "We'd like to take part in this dinner that you and Lulu," Johnny playfully glanced down at her, "Didn't make."

"Oh shush John!" Maxie playfully retorted grabbing Spinelli's hands, "I think you and Lulu could use the extra time that we'll need to quickly…" Maxie glanced at Spinelli with a wicked smile, "…finish up here."

"Oh ok," Johnny motioned to close the door when Lulu put her hand on his and looked at Maxie wondering what she was thinking!

"Um," Spinelli stuttered as Maxie seductively pulled him into a kiss, "Stone Cold's bedroom could be put into use…"

Lulu looked at them appalled until Johnny forcefully closed the door and swept Lulu off her feet.

_**ELSEWHERE IN PORT CHARLES**_

A knock came to the door of a certain late twenty year olds studio apartment, worrying the woman and her ill companion.

"Jason it's Bernie."

Jason slowly nodded at Elizabeth to answer the door.

"My Mr. Morgan," Bernie shockingly said in the doorway before further walking into the room.

"I'm okay," Jason slowly uttered.

Bernie nodded and then turned to Elizabeth, "Ms. Webber can we have some time alone?"

"Um yeah," Elizabeth grabbed her purse, "I'll check up on you in the morning," she kissed Jason's tender cheek and then closed the door behind her.

"How did it go?" Jason said in a stronger voice.

"Well," Bernie looked around for something to sit on, "I have to say, I underestimated Spinelli." He sat on the stool.

"I told you," Jason smiled, "He's a smart kid."

"Oh no," Bernie smirked, "He's more than that."

Jason confusingly looked at him, "Care to elaborate."

"Let's just say Mr. Morgan, it truly is a shame that he can't have his cake and eat it too."

"How do you mean?" Jason asked knowing of course what the expression meant, but not understanding how it applied to Spinelli.

"Damian Spinelli is a much different man than we know him to be. In fact if I didn't know any better I would say he has roots in our line of work."

"What like he's got family in the mob?"

Bernie sighed, getting up from the stool and walked over to a stash of water bottles, "Mr. Morgan you know those Army commercials?" He looked over his shoulder as he picked up a water bottle, "You know the ones that say, you made him strong, but we'll make him Army Strong?"

"Yeah so what?" Jason looked at him impatient to his logical thinking.

Bernie cracked open the bottle and poured it into a cup, "Well," he walked over to Jason, "You made him strong, but someone else made him stronger." He gave the cup to him before saying in eerie sort of way, "And I guarantee it was not the touch of a woman and her child."

Jason eyed him stupidly at his theatrics, "Bernie stop beating around the bush. What happened at the meeting?"

"Fine, fine," Bernie walked back to the stool, "Genius is what happened. Everyone admired him for his humor, his logic, and his compassion for protecting families."

"Was Karpov discussed?"

"Oh yes," Bernie nodded, "Mr. Morgan, he is the Alexander the Great of our time."

"Bernie don't make me laugh, I'll pull out my stitches."

"No joking here. He had plans, things we would have never even thought of…"

Jason eyed him wondering just what kind of plans these were.

"Don't worry I have them all on here," he removed a tape recorder.

"You recorded him?" Jason asked seeing the wire.

"You'll be happy I did. I think we can win this war, not only on the Russians, but the Chinese…"

"Bernie I think we're about two years from worrying about them."

"You never know," Bernie shrugged his shoulder before setting the tape on the couch.

"Bernie?" Jason questioned as he was about to leave.

"You know what's odd Mr. Morgan?" Bernie stopped just near the door, "We run a background check on everyone that's in our organization. But we never ran a check on him. Why is that?" Bernie pondered, "It's because what we see is what we thought we we're getting, but it is most evident," Bernie paused with a chilling demeanor, "Mr. Spinelli is very…different from the inside out."

Jason wasn't able to form words to react to Bernie's claims, but he was most alert to the things he brought to his attention.

"You have a good night Mr. Morgan, get rest, we've got a lot of work to do." Bernie smiled and Jason nodded, "Thanks Bernie."

The door shut and Jason glanced down at the tape. Why did they never look into him? Why did they never ask questions? Why? Why? Why? The answer was as disturbing as how the rest of the night would end.

*********TO BE CONTINUED*********


	30. SLOW MOTION

Author's Note: My inspiration for this has to go to One Life To live when a certain character met it's end, you'll know when u get the end, but based of the title you should get the idea. Review!

**Chapter 30**

**SLOW MOTION**

"Maximista are you sure you wanted to come back here tonight?" Spinelli asked while Maxie was entangled in his arms at the front door of the Scorpio house.

"Yes," she kissed his cheek.

"But we could have had Stone Cold's apartment all to ourselves, finished that chocolate cake, or better yet the hotel room we stayed in last night!" He looked down at her wondering what compelled her to go back here.

"I miss home." She softly smiled and he nodded, "You missed your paternal one."

"Psh no." Maxie giggled while grabbing her keys to open the door, "I just missed being entirely alone with you in a place that feels like mine."

Spinelli nodded like he could understand her, "I suppose," he yawned.

"And your tired," she giggled, opening the door.

"Nooo," he whined, "Just" he yawned again.

Maxie flipped the light switch on overlooking the small entrance while the rest of the house remained dark, "That's what I thought."

"Oh I'm not that tired," he grazed his hand over her abdomen and held her close whispering into her ear in the doorway, "Are you up for a night of mischief."

"You mean cops and robbers round two?" She smiled wickedly at him and he went with it, "Whatever you…aww" he yawned.

"Spinelli you're exhausted," she sweetly smiled at how cute he was tired.

"Nooo," he playfully whined, "We could toniiiiight," he motioned his head to the car.

She sweetly huffed, but turned to him wrapping her arm around his waist wanting to gently let him down, "Until I fall asleep in the car."

"Where I'll carry you into the room like we're married." He innocently leaned in having no intent of marriage behind the words.

Maxie felt her heart skip a beat. The mention of marriage had her smile frozen and her throat dry.

He noticed her sudden flushed face, "Are you okay?"

She slowly nodded where he softly stroked her face in concern, "Really?" He tried to look her in the eyes, but she looked away from him.

"Yeah," she looked back at him gently touching her own forehead, flustered. "I'm just really tired and the stuff earlier with work and Jason…"

"I'm sorry about that," he quickly interrupted where she looked at him like he didn't need to do that. "Really," he insisted. "You were right about everything and I should have never yelled at you about Jason," he regretfully looked at her who touching his chest for him to stop taking all the blame. "Seriously Maxie, it was wrong of me and…I'll make it up to you," he faintly said over her objecting voice.

"No," she touched his shoulder where she was about to say they were both wrong until she heard something fall in the kitchen.

Spinelli quickly looked up at the kitchen where Maxie scarcely said, "What was that."

He looked down at her seeing her panicked face that had been instilled from the days of the text message killer. It killed him that to this day Diego Alcazar still had an influence over her, "Stay here." He looked down at her where she worryingly looked at him squeezing his wrist, "Let's just go." She whispered pulling him back towards her hoping if they left the house they could act like there wasn't something potentially dangerous in the kitchen.

"And leave a burglar in your house?" He looked at her like that would be stupid, "No." He simply told her where he turned away from holding her hand and slowly crept forward.

"Well wait," she quickly let go and grabbed an umbrella next to the door.

He oddly looked at her as she gave it to him, "What? You can't go in there unarmed."

He amusingly nodded, "Stay close."

She walked behind him nervously tugging on his jacket as he walked forward with the umbrella raised. They walked further into the dim lit house where they continued to here rustling in the kitchen. He came to a stop just near the doorway and looked back at her to make sure she was okay. She slowly nodded and he looked away from her running his hand over the light switch that was about to reveal how unnecessary their worried gasps were.

Alexis horrifyingly looked at Spinelli while he stared in surprise at Mac lying right on top of her on the dinner table. They were both still clothed, but it was most obvious that they were in the process of what teenagers would label as "hookin' up".

She wondered why he hadn't burst into action and decided she could no longer hide behind her knight in shinning armor.

"No," Spinelli quickly turned to her, but it was too late. Maxie was already crossing her arms in complete amusement, "Daaad?"

Mac embarrassingly looked away from her to Alexis, the two feeling caught red handed, "Maxie we'll meet you in the living room."

XOXOX

The four sat in silence on the couch. Mac and Alexis were a mess like two crazy teenagers caught doing the naughty and Spinelli and Maxie were the two adult parents wondering how to handle this.

"Dad it's okay, I want you to be happy," Maxie insistently smiled, "I don't know why you thought you had to hide it. Sam and I predicted you two a few weeks ago."

"Really?" Alexis surprisingly guessed.

"Yeah," Maxie nodded, "You two aren't very good at sneaking around."

Alexis awed in disbelief at how old she was, "We're not that young anymore are we Mac?"

He chuckled, "I guess not." Mac smiled at Alexis, both awkwardly looking at each other like they had something big to tell her.

"What?" Maxie curiously asked before chuckling at how inept they were to Spinelli.

Mac nervously looked at her as one hand squeezed Alexis's and the other pulled on his tie, "Well there's something I've been meaning to tell you Maxie and it might be a little bit of a shock…" He paused hoping what he was about to say wasn't going to anyway shape or form change their father daughter relationship.

"Well sir," Spinelli jumped in, "We have something to tell you as well." He looked at Maxie who intently stared at him with her blue berry eyes not to utter anything.

"Oh well than go right away," Alexis offered with a smile before looking up at Mac to see if he was just as enthused, but he wasn't.

"Tell me what?" He looked at Spinelli who was quietly whispering to Maxie, "He's going to find out sooner or later."

She pouted at him, but couldn't tell him not to when Mac called her name, "Maxie what is it honey?"

"Uh," she apprehensively stared at Spinelli, "Well," she and Spinelli glanced up at Mac at the same time where they could see he almost knew what they were about to say.

"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is," he glared at Spinelli.

Spinelli nervously chuckled, "Well what do you think this is?"

"Don't be smart with me," Mac pointed his finger at him raising his voice, "You know exactly what I'm thinking of and if you don't want my fist in your jaw it better not be what I think it is."

"Well," Spinelli bitterly froze, "It's not then…"

"What?" Mac eyed him, "Are you toying with me? Because I'll tell ya right now, I've had a helluva day and I don't need you making it more complicated with head games."

"No sir," Spinelli held his breath, "I…I was just going to tell you that you no longer have to worry about Maxie's safety because I've officially decided to stop working for Jason."

"That's great!" Alexis exclaimed before looking at Mac, "Isn't that great Malcolm?

Mac eyed him cautiously "Well continue…"

"Okay," he looked at Maxie and then quickly back at Mac, "I'll be working for Jax at the Metro Court as head of communications in his Europe department."

"So that's what Jax wanted to talk to me about…" Alexis pondered a happy thought.

"Yes," Spinelli nodded, "And…well…" He looked at Maxie, "I bought Jax's apartment."

"What?" Maxie tugged on his arm.

"So you're moving out of Jason's?" Alexis asked.

"Yes Ms. Davis and into his apartment hopefully this weekend."

"No," Maxie nodded in disagree, "You can live here."

"No," Mac interrupted his daughter, "He has recovered. He is well. There is no reason for him to stay here besides for you and unless you are moving out I think it would be best if he left."

Spinelli reluctantly nodded, hating the fact that he saw Spinelli that way, "I um agree."

"Well this is great," Mac smiled before laughing, "I thought you were going to say something like you got my daughter pregnant, but this is so much better." He looked at Alexis while Spinelli and Maxie grinned nervously.

"Maxie?" Mac called her name, "What I was about to tell you is that, I'm moving in with Alexis and her daughters."

"Oooh," Maxie looked at him like she most definitely wasn't expecting that.

"Yeah, I didn't think it was fair for her daughters to move in here and since Robin and Patrick are looking for houses I thought I would give them this house."

"And what about me?" Maxie slowly nodded negatively as if he wasn't think about her.

"Well Robin said you could have your room and since Georgie's things are in storage they're going to use that room for the baby."

"Like that's not morbid," Maxie jumped to defense.

"Maxie," Mac frowned, "I thought you'd be happy."

She huffed like she was, "I am. Really," she got up from the couch.

"Maxie," Mac looked at her to just sit down.

"Maximista," Spinelli stood up from the couch.

"No I'm fine, I just didn't think you were so ready to replace Georgie and me."

"That's not what he's doing," Alexis tried to explain.

Spinelli walked over to her where she snapped at Mac, "And you have the nerve to tell Spinelli that he can't live here when you're moving out." Maxie looked at away and headed for the stairs.

Spinelli looked at Mac and Alexis, "I'll talk to her."

He followed Maxie upstairs where he could hear Mac downstairs looking at Alexis, "I thought she'd be fine with it."

"Maxie," Spinelli followed her into her bedroom where she sat on her bed.

"I just wasn't expecting this," she looked up at him as he bent down to her.

"Are you upset because you're wondering where you are going to live…"

She huffed like that would be stupid, "No…"

"Because," he looked down at her and reached into his pocket, "I was sort of hoping you were going to live with me." He presented the key, "Just until we get a house or an apartment of our own."

She nervously looked up at him, "Is this the apartment that Logan was killed in?"

"Um it might be," he saw her immediate look of resilience, "But that's works to our advantage."

"Oh and how do you see that?" She looked at him, "A man who tried to rape me was murdered there."

They both became silent at the door bell ringing downstairs, "Maxie," Spinelli got up from the carpet and closed the door a little, "Logan can't hurt you or Lulu or any of us anymore."

"Lulu almost lost her mind what if I see him while we're there and go…"

He sat next to her wrapping his arm around her, "You're not going to lose your mind."

"You don't know that," she honestly looked at him.

"Okay," he nodded his head like this was ridiculous, "Your right, but if it turns out be that apartment then we'll get another apartment or house. It's whatever you want."

Maxie sighed folding her hands over her face, "I don't know Spinelli."

"You don't know what?" He looked at her where she was still quiet. He got down on his knees in front of her and gently took her hands from her face.

"What is it?" He looked up at her.

"Everything is just…is just happening sooo fast," she batted her eyes.

"I know," he softly smiled.

"There's you and your work and my work and now our living arrangements and…" She moved her hands to her abdomen, "This baby… I just…" Maxie startlingly stopped after her door flung open and Mac's shouting raised an all time high.

"Mr. Scorpio," Spinelli put his hand up in defense.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Mac stormed into the room.

"Dad!" Maxie got up.

"No," Spinelli turned to her getting up from floor, "You need to sit and you…" He turned to Mac who suddenly grabbed onto him and flung him into the hallway.

"Ow," Spinelli touched the back of his head.

At that moment Robin and Patrick had walked through the front door talking with Alexis.

"Oh no," Robin looked at Patrick, "He knows."

"He knows?" Alexis question.

"YOU KNOCKED UP MY DAUGHTER!"

"Oh dear," Alexis looked up at the stairs.

"Dad!" Maxie quickly walked to the side of him, "Let me explain."

Mac enclosed in on Spinelli, "I'm listening."

"Okay," Maxie rushed in a panic to explain, "So when Johnny and Lulu went on the run, Anthony well he…he kidnapped me."

"What?!" Mac glanced at her, "He did what to you?"

"Cause he thought I might know where Johnny is and since I work with Lulu…So after I told him I didn't know anything, he let me go and I was really scared so I went to Spinelli and…" She shrugged her shoulders knowing he could put the pieces together.

"So you took advantage of my daughter's vulnerability!" Mac angrily shouted two inches from his face.

Spinelli nodded no.

"Speak!" Mac slapped his face, "Speak freak boy!"

Spinelli jumped like he never quite had before. He felt himself pinned against the wall, "It was…an acc-i-dent."

"An acc-i-dent?" Mac growled at him.

"Dad!" She grabbed onto Mac, "It was my fault!

"No, this mistake is on him," Mac roughly let go of Maxie's grip sending Maxie into a dizzy spell.

Spinelli quickly turned his attention to Maxie, "Max…" But as he motioned to her Mac grabbed him and pushed him away.

"You've helped my daughter enough, now get out of this house!"

"Dad!" Maxie followed her father close behind.

"Look," Spinelli pointed at Maxie, "You're upsetting Maxie," Spinelli put his hands up in defense, "let's just talk about this rationally."

"Yes dad please!" She wiped her tears.

"Rationally?" He looked at Spinelli stupidly.

"I have money," Spinelli honestly looked at him somewhat afraid of him, but thought that if he could provide security it would be okay.

"No you have blood money!" Mac spitefully walked towards him where he hastily looked at him, "I can take care of her and the baby!"

"Like hell you will!" Mac formed a fist before pointing at him, "You're not going anywhere near my grandchild."

"Dad, you can't do that!" She quickly looked at Spinelli like she'd never keep him from them, but Spinelli was long gone now. His mind had snapped at how low Mac was going stoop to play this game, "Well then I'll get a court order."

"No that won't be necessary Spinelli!" Maxie rested her hands over her stomach, feeling more sick than ever.

"Go ahead!" Mac shouted with his eyes dead set on wanting to kill him, "But no judge will grant you custody."

"Oh why?" Spinelli stopped in front of him, "Because here's how I look at it commi-ss-ion-er! I'm a hero! I saved your daughter and when it leaks that apparently I saved a child too then I'm going to look like a real swell guy."

"You better rub that the smirk off your face because when I'm done with you, you'll never see them again."

"Try old man, try all you want, but see I'm a hacker, I destroy evidence for a living so you'll never be able to pin any thing on me!"

"Oh I will Damian! I'll send you to prison."

Maxie took a deep breath, almost unable to stand on her own so she leaned against the wall, "No you won't dad."

"It's for your safety!" He kindly raised his voice to her where as Spinelli said "Safety? You think you can protect them better than me?" Mac quickly glanced back up at him to push him back, "Yeah!"

"Yeah!" Spinelli pushed.

"Yeah!" Mac pushed him back where Spinelli fiercely grabbed onto him, "And how you gonna do that?"

They but heads like rhinos, staring at each other, completely out of breath as the enraged they fumed was getting to the best of them.

"Huh? You and what army? You're corrupted precinct? Nah not corrupted, pathetic is more like it! Let's face it, they couldn't even get into the Metro Court without the help of us so called 'criminals' or what about the time we all got stuck at Wyndemere, where were they then? You weren't even willing to risk the lives of your own men for your family. "

Mac snarled, "You're just another disrespectful punk Maxie's brought home!" Mac's grip on Spinelli's collar grew tighter.

"Disrespectful? Any great leader knows that to be treated with respect you must earn it?"

"Oh like you're great pal Morgan?" Mac sinisterly smiled.

"He's half the man you'll ever be." Spinelli sinisterly looked at him thinking, _now who's smiling?_

They stared at each other waiting for a force to break them up, lucky for them that force had just walked through the front door.

"Sam!" Alexis turned from Patrick and Robin.

"Hey what's goin' on?" Sam walked through the open front door feeling as though something was up.

"World War three," Robin slightly giggled where Patrick explained, "Mac just found out Maxie is pregnant."

Sam was quite surprised for Maxie had failed to tell her such news, "That can't be good though."

"Uh no," Alexis nodded reassuringly, "Mac..."

"And the reason we're standing here not intervening is because…?" Sam looked at them clueless.

Alexis grinned, "We thought they should work it out themselves."

"Cause that's a fair fight," Sam sarcastically walked passed them knowing that Spinelli needed someone in his corner for Maxie would incidentally be in Mac's.

"Maybe I should go help," Patrick looked at Robin and Alexis.

"Be careful," Robin kissed his cheek before he walked up the stairs with Sam.

"How long have they been like this?" Sam looked over her shoulder.

"Just a few minutes," Patrick uneasily smiled.

Sam nodded where as they reached the last step they could hear Spinelli's menacingly cruel words, "Isn't it like standard protocol to put officers on people such as your daughters who were attacked by a murderer? And you expect me to entrust you in taking care of them? You're a joke."

"Spinelli!" Sam shouted which pulled him from the violent path he was on.

Mac took this opportune time to punch Spinelli while the sight of Sam and Patrick distracted him.

"I'm a joke?" Mac humored before punching Spinelli again.

"Mac!" Patrick shouted, "Fighting is not going to solve anything!"

"You know," Mac walked towards Spinelli with his hands on his hips, "I never bought that geeky routine for one second."

Spinelli wiped the blood dripping from his knows, "You think you know me?" Spinelli sinisterly giggled, "You have no idea WHO I AM or WHAT I AM capable of."

Maxie instantly looked up at Spinelli, distraught by his words, as was Sam who shouted, "Patrick do something!"

"Guys come on!" Patrick motioned from the top of the stairs where he could see Spinelli back treading towards him to the end of the hallway.

Mac looked off to Patrick "Stay out of this!" Mac pointed at him not to dare intervene.

Spinelli stopped back treading, reaching the end of the hall where the only thing behind him was the railing to the staircase on his left, which Patrick currently stood at, "It's okay Dr. Love."

"You are as lethal as Jason Morgan," Mac stopped in front of Spinelli grabbing him by the collar and pulling him to his face, "And I'll be damned if I let you take away the only family I have left." Mac wound up a punch where Spinelli uttered "Take a good look at your daughter…" Spinelli bitterly frowned at Maxie crying in Sam's arms.

"Mac! Don't!" Maxie shouted where Sam quietly tried to calm her down.

Mac glanced back at Spinelli who said, "And remember it didn't have to be like this." Spinelli uttered in almost defeat as blood drained through his nose as fast as water from a faucet.

"Oh my gawd! Malcolm!" Alexis shouted as she entered the living room with Robin behind her, "Uncle Mac let him go!"

"Mac!" Patrick motion towards him, "Someone is seriously going to get hurt and over what?! Huh? An innocent child?"

Mac glanced back at Spinelli hearing Patrick's calming words, "He can barely stand."

Mac eyed Spinelli seeing the young man grabbing onto the railing to keep himself from collapsing. Mac reluctantly let go bringing relief to everyone, especially Patrick nearby.

"Thank you Patrick," Mac looked at himself astonished at the monster he became.

"No problem," Patrick patted his shoulder and then looked at Spinelli who began to display a behavioral type that got Patrick's immediate attention.

"I knew you didn't have the guts," Spinelli giggled sinisterly wiping the blood from his nose.

Mac heard the blow to his ego and reacted before thinking.

"Mac no!" Patrick shouted trying to prevent the punch, but was too late. The thrust sent Spinelli back into the railing, which consequently broke the wood. Everyone around him now watched in horror as Spinelli aimlessly fell into the air and came crashing, shoulder first, down on the small glass rounded table.

"SPINELLI!" Were the echoes of her cries that he heard as he hit the wooden floor and faintly closed his eyes with a pool of blood drooling from underneath him.

**_Snowflakes are falling now you're my long lost friend_**

**_*******TO BE CONTINUED*******  
_**


	31. Life and Death together as One

Chapter 31

"Life and death together as One"

Maxie screamed his name having no idea what happened just that he disappeared from her vision.

Patrick watched how Spinelli landed on the wooden floor favoring his right shoulder and then rolled on his stomach completely motionless.

"Spinelli!" Patrick shouted before looking at Mac who was as shocked as ever, "He's not moving is he?" Mac worryingly said wondering what the hell he just did.

"It was accident Mac," Patrick told him before seeing Maxie break from Sam's arms, "Spinelli!"

"Maxie!" Sam shouted following after her.

Mac quickly turned to Maxie grabbing her in his arms, "Maxie just calm down."

She looked over his shoulder at Spinelli lifelessly on the floor, "You did this to him!"

"It was accident, baby," Mac cried.

"Let go of me!" She screamed.

Sam ran passed her to Patrick where she saw Spinelli and grew speechless.

"Patrick!" Robin shouted from downstairs, "I think he's moving!"

"What?" Mac quickly let loose the grip he had on his daughter and turned to see what had also fixated Maxie. Spinelli's left hand slowly moved bringing a form of relief to Maxie, "Oh thank god." She covered her mouth with one hand clenching her jaw as her hand touched her abdomen, "Daddy's alive."

Sam softly looked away from Maxie to Patrick who was analyzing the scene below.

"Ah…" Spinelli began to lift himself with his left arm, "Ah shit," he felt a small strain in his waist, like something was cutting his skin.

"Spinelli stay still!" Patrick yelled, "Alexis call 911, Robin get me some towels! Mac…" Patrick looked over, "I'm gonna need your help."

"Of course," Mac nodded running passed Maxie who just stood still unable to really move at another glorious miracle that she believed Georgie had brought.

Spinelli saw the small piece of glass in his waist and without a thought, balanced his side on his left elbow and reach with his left hand to the right side of his waist. "Fu-ccc-kk!" He whimpered before coughing on the blood in his throat.

"Okay calm down Spinelli," Patrick stopped just in front of him where as Spinelli made eye contact he saw Mac right over his shoulder, "Noo!"

"Here are some towels," Robin gave one to Patrick who motioned to touch him, "Spinelli focus on me." Patrick looked straight into his eyes, "This will stop the blee-ding." Patrick paused as his phone rang. He answered the phone while still pressing the cloth over the wound to find out that it was dad calling him to consult on a patient, "Dad! Hold on…" Patrick looked up wanting help where Robin stepped forward, "No…" He thought it was too dangerous for Robin to be curing a patient without any gloves, "Dad, can you hang on!" He pulled his phone away, "Mac can you…" But the second Patrick let go of the cloth and Spinelli realized who was touching him, he freaked, "Don't touch me you fuckin' cop!" His right hand quickly grabbed onto Mac's shirt before releasing him immediately at the pain he felt shooting up his arm.

Patrick quickly turned his head, "Dad I'll have to call you back."

"Spinelli I'm sorry!" Mac tried to help again, but Spinelli pushed his right hand on Mac's chest causing Mac to fall back in utter shock of how much pain he caused the young man when tried to get him away. A moment later Spinelli leaned his forehead on the wooden floor, "Gawd damn it!" He moaned while coughing on his tears this time, "My shoulder!" He whimpered, holding his arm still.

"Patrick," Alexis called, "I called an Ambulance."

"NO!" Spinelli whined, "No hospital…" He closed his eyes while huffing at the pain he was feeling.

Robin's sweet voice came close as she stood on the other side of him, "Spinelli you're hurt…"

His head still pressed against the cold wooden floor he negatively nodded with anguish, "I hate hospitals and I hate doctors! SAM!" He jerked his head away from her to the stairs where he saw his beloved Maxie clenching onto Sam's hand.

There was something in his eyes, a bitterness glared he gave her that made Maxie tremble inside. Unable to take her worrisome eyes he fiercely turned away where he looked at Robin, "I didn't mean you…" He huffed closing his eyes.

Robin curled her lip before taking the towel in her hand and gently wiping the blood off his face, "What about Maxie?"

Spinelli clenched his jaw before putting his head back down on the floor, "SAM! Get down here!"

Robin kneeled up from his side looking a Patrick and Mac in the distance and then Alexis. She didn't know what to say to them or to Sam and Maxie who were slowly making their way down stairs.

"I'm coming Spinelli," Sam said bringing Maxie with her.

"Be careful of the glass," Patrick noted to them where Sam nodded and then look at Maxie to mind her step.

Spinelli heard footsteps nearby him and opened his eyes to see someone else besides Sam, "Why'd you bring _her_?"

"Spin-elli" Maxie motioned and he threw a tantrum, "I want to talk to SAM!" He turned away from Maxie knowing he had unintentionally frightened her, "Please."

Sam watch as Maxie slowly nodded in complete and utter heartbreak and gently touched her arm, "Hey."

Maxie turned to her wiping her tears before shrugging her shoulders, "Wha…"

"He's not mad at you," Sam whispered, "He's angry at…"

"Sam!" Spinelli coughed, "Ah fuck…" He spit blood on the wood, "Sam…"

"Alright Spinelli," Sam frowned at Maxie, "It'll be okay." She hugged Sam before kneeling down to Spinelli, "Hey now this isn't a joke you need to get yourself to the hospital."

"No hospital!" Spinelli pounded his left fist on the floor.

"Spinelli you're bleeding! God knows what you've done to you're shoulder again! This is not the time to be stubborn!"

"Stubborn?!" He yelled back at her where he became so angry he dropped his left hand that was holding his should and began to hold his side as he attempted to get up from the floor.

"Spinelli," they all said in gasps of worry.

He stood out of breath, "Looks like I defeated your expectations…" He bitterly laughed at how they all feared he was helpless from standing on the floor.

"As always," Patrick spoke realizing he would have to approach Spinelli in an entirely different manner than he would approach any normal patient, "No let's get you to the hospital."

Spinelli nodded negatively feeling the strain in his shoulder, "You know," he faintly started, "This once again..." He paused not understanding why he had so much pent up anger against her, "Is all because of you Maxie."

"Come on," Mac spoke up, "This was my fault."

"I'm not talking to you," Spinelli glared at him with his fingers that were holding his side pointed to him. Spinelli took more short breaths before feeling faint, "I mean I knew we should have just gone back to the hotel or god forbid stay in Jason's, but nooo," he laughed once more like everything he gave her wasn't enough, "We went back here…because of you." He stared at her whimpering as he felt himself sway back into the couch.

"Alright Spinelli!" Patrick and even Sam nearby tried to help him as his left arm hung onto the inside of the couch.

His left hand signaled to them to back away, "All because you wanted to go back home." He coughed before slowly using his left arm to lean up from his awkward position. "Well you know what Maxie?" His eyes haunted her as he came to lean on the back of the couch, "When you've met the right person, they," his left hand patted his chest, "Are your home." He hurtfully looked at her, "It doesn't matter where you are, they, me, is supposed to be your home."

"Spinelli!" Patrick shouted unable to take the look on Maxie's face who didn't seem to understand as did the rest of them where Spinelli had gone to. He couldn't take this anymore from his patient, although seeing him react the way he did to the amount of pain he was in, was most interesting, he knew something else was wrong.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Patty boy!" His left hand leaned his body away from the couch, "Look at me!" He painfully pulled glass out of his shoulder, "I bet I'm going to need surgery for that," he ironically giggled, "Isn't that grrrreat! Another surgery, more therapy, all that time in recovery…wasted…" His left hand fell on his face, "Like I have nothing else to do!"

Patrick looked raised his voice, "We're not going to know anything until we get to the hospital and run some…"

Spinelli removed his hand from his face, confused by the doctor's words, "Tests? I'm sorry Patrick, but what tests are going to tell you what you don't already know?" He glanced down at his waist, "I have a cut in my gut," he slowly laughed, "Look I rhyme, I really am a funny guy," he thought back to the meeting while his left hand touched his eye lids.

Maxie wasn't scared or disturbed like the rest of them in the room. She had seen this behavior before and knew it was just a result of the pain he was in. He didn't know how to control it, but she knew once he had calmed down, he would really open his eyes.

"Spinelli," Maxie softly called his name while tears in her throat caused her to voice to crack, "It's been a bad day…" She held her hand out defensively, "Let's just go to the hospital and get you fixed…"

"No!" He intently looked at her, "It was a good day! I had a great day at work or no I take that back, it wasn't work it can't be anymore," he sarcastically looked at her, "It was a great day up until the point I had to see you!" He pointed at her as if he was almost drunk. It was a side effect Patrick was putting together. Spinelli wasn't just angry like a normal person would be, he was the result of someone with poor impulse control. Acting in appropriate, taking jokes or bullying remarks too far.

"Because then it dawned on me," Spinelli pointed to his brain, "Just how real this all is!" He looked away from her to his shoulder that was now dripping blood off his finger tips, "And now there's my shoulder," Spinelli put his left hand over the place he ripped the glass from, "That is probably so jacked up now that it won't even be able to hold a baby or you ever again and that's another expectation I can't live up to another disappointment that Damien Spinelli has fulfilled." He turned away from her seeing the table where he felt angered by it's physical presence so he kicked it, "All because some idiot decided to put a table here."

"Well that idiot was me," Maxie wiped the tears streaming down her eyes before walked up to him, "And THIS is exactly why I didn't want us to be doing this…"

"Doing what?!" He yelled before feeling faint once more.

"Being a family!" She crossed her arms, "Because you know what, you're not the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with."

Spinelli nodded positively while his lip curled, "I'm not?"

"No, you're not and if you don't want to go to the hospital, if you just want to bleed to death here, fine!" She walked away from him where as she got closer to Mac she turned to him, "Because god knows I'm not gonna miss this and neither is this child I'm not having. This wee one or jackal junior or mini fashionista or whatever the hell you want to call it."

"Danika," he stood with a stern frown on his face from him muscles clenching his jaw.

His remark hit her hard. How such a sweet moment earlier had appeared to almost never occur, "No," she bit her lip before releasing more tears in her eyes, "It's not gonna happen!"

"Fine," he huffed in complete disbelief, "Sam…will you help me to my car?"

Maxie turned to him once more having no idea why she was reacting to this, but she should have known it was because despite everything, she loved the man that was slowly returning to her in this moment, "Where are you going?"

"Why do you care?" He honestly looked at her while his heart was aching as much as hers, "Sam, please…can we go so I can bleed to death elsewhere."

Sam nodded walking towards him where he wrapped his left arm around her and limped with her to the door.

Patrick couldn't let him leave, "Spinelli you need to go to a hospital, to have to tests run."

"Why? So the great doctor drake can write up in his medical journals about how he treated his patient as a lab rat?"

"No so you can be tested for a personality disorder."

Spinelli huffed feeling a strain in his lungs, "There's nothing wrong with me."

"I'm not saying there is, but…"

"Patrick," Sam spoke up believing Spinelli, "Wouldn't you be pissed if a certain someone decided to make decisions for you?" She glared at Mac and Alexis whose involvement in their own relationships had truly affected their lives.

"Spinelli," Robin spoke up, "Please listen to Patrick."

"Why should he?" Sam interrupted, "You two knew things were going to get out of hand and you let it happen anyway. You're not any kind of doctor on his side."

"That's not true," Maxie hurtfully looked at Sam who objected, "Sure it is Maxie." Sam glanced at Spinelli who was just about to pass out, "You could have stood up for the man you're supposed to love. Say to hell with Mac, but you didn't." Sam looked away from her to Spinelli who eyed Maxie with such contradiction, "You really believe them?"

"Maybe they're right," Maxie eyed him like maybe there was an explanation for the way tonight got out of control.

Spinelli felt defeated. To lose all her confidence, "What is this an intervention now?"

There silence was a clear indicator and Spinelli realized Sam was entirely right about her judgments. "Let me tell you something," he looked at everyone but Sam who were looking at him like there was something wrong with him, "You guys aren't my family and you're sure as hell not any kind of friend of mine!" He glanced down at Sam, "Now you're daughter here Ms. Davis is the exception, thankfully someone still likes me."

"You ready?" Sam looked up at him to a very pale Spinelli, "Ya."

They reached the front door where Spinelli said as they stood in the doorway, "Well Maxie, I hope you're happy, you're a flaked out of this one just like you're mother."

Maxie painfully closed her eyes being thankful she hadn't seen his face when he uttered them. The door closed and she touched her forehead as tears strung down her cheeks.

"Honey maybe it's for the best," Mac uttered and he couldn't have prepared himself for the slap he received.

"I hate you," she simply put it before looking at Alexis, "He's all yours."

"Maxie baby," Mac brokenly looked at her where as she turned away from him to Robin, she bent over in pain, "OW."

"Maxie!" Mac concernedly hovered where Maxie had no other choice but to grab his hand and lean on him, "Maxie what's wrong?" Mac asked but she continued to hunch over.

Robin who walked over as fast as she could, calmly talked her threw what she knew were cramps caused by the stress of the situation, "Just calm down, Patrick help her to the couch."

She felt her head hit the couch and it wasn't much sooner before she closed her eyes and fainted from the drama of the entire day. As she fell into her sleep for the night she heard hush tones and flashbacks while experiencing her own thoughts that were just as loud. In the toss and turns, her hand never seemed to leave that of the baby that she had never really seemed to have given much thought of until this day. Danika. Such a sweet name thought by a sweet man who lost himself to the insecurities those around him had of him. He turned into his worst enemy because of their lack of confidence because of her lack of support. While Damian had always believed he would be the one to make the mistakes to lose her forever, she had felt for the very first time that her mistakes had cost her a life with him. Now she slept alone, in the dark, on a couch, wondering where he was if she would ever see him again.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sam asked the old man standing next to her in the doorway of a guest bedroom.

"The kid's a rock," Mickey crossed his arms, "Give him a few days and he'll bounce back."

Sam nodded with a smile while observing the unconscious and exhausted Damian Spinelli who lied in a bed with bandages holding his exterior wounds, but nothing to heal his interior.

"He had a pretty bad night," Sam frowned as Mickey closed the door.

"Seems so," Mickey walked with her down the hall, "Guy worked real hard to get that shoulder in working order, a shame this had to happen to him."

"I thought you said he'd be okay?" Sam stopped in the dark hallway where he gave it to her straight.

"He will be okay, he'll find his way back to her and himself."

"But his health," that's what she was more concerned about.

"Oh, his shoulder is done for. No surgery is going to fix that damage. It'll heal, but he'll always feel pain. Apart from that, like I said, he'll bounce back in a few days."

Sam somberly smiled, as she felt crushed for her friend. She went home and carried on with her night, but couldn't get out of her mind the difficult road ahead Spinelli had. Why Spinelli was fated to suffer this much she had no idea. She only worried that soon he'd begin to accept it and give up on having anything good in his life as a man she once loved had decided was his fate.

Jason Morgan and Damian Spinelli seemed like two kindred souls. It was coincidental they were two individuals in the same town who were now beginning to feel the affects of their mistakes. Sad indeed, but also ironic at how age had played a part in their diminishing souls. The harder they tried to make things right, the harder they fell. Cheating death seemed to have a lasting effect. They lived longer, but ached longer as those they loved seemed to slip further and further away from them. Only time would tell if Damian Spinelli would become that of his mentor and that was the thought that haunted Jason Morgan throughout the night. Was it already too late for a man of his young age to desire all things associated with love? The outcome of this very night proved that it was.

How unfortunate it was that the love to have seemed to save Damian Spinelli and Maxie Jones was slowly killing them. Was there a force out there to end this destructive path? Why yes there were two. She sat above the clouds in a place no one really knew existed. Georgie Jones looked down at them from heaven, still amused that her loss of life had branched something so spectacularly wonderful yet so spectacularly flawed. The other force was that of an unexpected kind. She was conceived during a time of great need to feel wanted. She was a miracle of life, a little girl by the name of Danika Jones Spinelli. Interesting how life and death could work so well together to benefit two people who couldn't be anymore destined for each other. If only Damian Spinelli and Maxie Jones could believe it for themselves.


	32. When actions become louder than words

Author's Note: So this chapter is called "Actions speak louder than words" and I think you'll understand why it's titled that. The chapter is full of much dialogue and character interactions, a lot is going on to just interfere with this phrase. There will be many one-liners that stand out and represent the dark future that's coming soon. There was supposed to be more to this chapter and then I just decided to end it because the general idea of the chapter was becoming lost. Enjoy! Review!

Chapter 32

"Actions speak louder than words"

The sun seemed to wake them at the same time the next morning. 6am sharp their eyes slowly opened as the warmth, from the windows in their locations, shined through to once again remind them that they were not together.

"Go back to sleep kid," Mickey looked at the kid from the doorway, "I was just checkin' on you…Go on."

Spinelli confusingly eyed him, almost unaware of why Mickey was there, until his hand wandered to the other side of the bed. She wasn't there and suddenly his mind that was suffering from a hangover and medication, remembered of last night.

"Maxie?" Robin softly called her name from the couch with a cup of tea sitting on the coffee table, "I've scheduled an appointment for you with Dr. Lee."

Maxie instantly grazed her hand over her abdomen thinking she'd be able to feel her little blueberry, but when she couldn't, a feeling grew within her. Robin must have figured this look so plainly across her face was that of worry because she informed Maxie that only at 16 weeks could a mother really begin to feel their baby. It didn't ease her mind though anymore than not knowing where the father of her smurf was at this time in the morning.

"Doctor commando?" Spinelli spoke feverish.

"Hey buddy," Dr. Bayard smiled as he sat on the edge of the bed with a small flashlight in his hand, "How are we feeling this morning?" He shined the light in Spinelli's eyes.

"Like there's on coming traffic headed my way," Spinelli gently grabbed his hand to get the light out of his eyes.

"Alright," the doctor stopped his protocol, "Heard you had a bad night."

"Ah tell it to me straight doc," Spinelli dramatically looked away from him with his eyes closed, "how bad…"

"Calm down skipper," Dr. Bayard paused, "Damian look at me."

Spinelli cracked his eye open where he saw the doctor smiling, "If you stop wincing at me I'll tell you the prognosis." Spinelli didn't amuse the thought, but reluctantly looked at him serious where Dr. Bayard revealed his condition, "You have what I would like to call a shoulder separation."

"That sounds painful…oh wait it is." Spinelli sarcastically eyed him like the term didn't exactly help him.

"I never miss that snarky attitude."

"Sorry," Spinelli closed his eyes, "So…" He sighed taking a deep breath, but Dr. Bayard interrupted him, "So Damian we're going to keep ice on that shoulder and give you some anti-inflammatory medication and you'll be as good as new."

"What's the catch?" Spinelli eyed the doc like he was no fool, "I sense a regretful but."

"You can't get anything past me Damian," he chuckled before looking over his shoulder at his brother, "He is by far my favorite patient."

"Mine as well," Mickey grinned.

"Enough with the compliments, should I be getting surgery for this?"

"Yes," Dr. Bayard looked back, "And no."

"Well don't make me ask," Spinelli once again eyed him with annoyance at his vagueness.

"And don't make me regret making a house call," Dr. Bayard smartly snarled at his comments, "Damian what you have is a type three separation that is sometimes treated with surgery."

"I'm not getting surgery, I'll tell you that right now the Jackal refuses."

"As I was saying," he paused waiting for Spinelli's attention, "Surgery can sometimes lead to other problems in the shoulder and with your history, I fear the surgery would lead to infection not to mention a painful scar, but fractures, muscle detachments, just a helluva lot of problems for someone who is not an athlete."

Spinelli sighed in relief, "You have no idea how happy I am to hear this."

Dr. Bayard smiled, "I know. Your x-rays that Mickey took last night while he got you drunk to ease the pain, have however shown that if we let the injury heal on it's own you will run into minimal pain down the road."

"Like…"

"Like needing to take Advil from time to time if you've stressed the muscle or bruise the area."

"But kid it's not that bad," Mickey leaned in with a joking smile, "Advil does a good job, but so does some other meds I've got."

"Anyway," Dr. Bayard intervened, "I think it would be in your best interest to rest the shoulder for the next couple of weeks."

"I'll do anything to stay out of that hospital."

"As we figured," Dr. Bayard looked up at his brother before glancing back down at Spinelli, "I have to get back to the hospital, but you get some rest and as Arnold would say," Dr. Bayard leaned forward, "I'll be back."

General Hospital was as busy as ever this morning. Its arrogant doctors fled the halls, patient rooms and supply closets while its nurses stood at the nurses stations thoroughly looking over folders and committing other tedious acts. The chief though was one medical professional to not be found in any of those common places, no, Dr. Ford was in his office along with Monica Quartermaine regretfully having to give Matt Hunter his pink slip.

"You are a bright man Dr. Hunter," Monica frowned, "But your history at Fort Howard's VA Hospital is a liability this hospital cannot take."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," he clenched his jaw.

"Look, this isn't a personal attack, we'd love to keep you. You're a combat surgeon, which this hospital needs. However with the scrutiny the hospital has been under…last summer and now with the rumor that medication is faulty here because of the patients that have been getting ill…The media could destroy us if our doctors look like murders."

Matt starred at him like he didn't know what to say or do. A lawyer would be a waste of time and money. So he did what any respectful human being who saves lives would do, he stood up from the chair, thanked them for having the opportunity to work with them and then left the room.

"He took that really well," Monica looked up at Dr. Ford who eyed the his door suspiciously, "Too well."

"Oh Russell," Monica left his side, "I'm going to inform the surgical board."

"Do please," Russell nodded with appreciation as she left and walked down the hall where Epiphany Johnson emerged from coinciding hall.

"Epiphany, will you please inform our residents that Dr. Matt Hunter is no longer on our surgical staff and erase him from all of today's and any future surgeries?"

"Um yes Ma'am," Epiphany oddly looked at her, "Is there a reason that I should tell them?"

"No," Monica strictly looked at her after pressing the elevator call button, "That won't be necessary." She insisted and then entered the elevator where Epiphany turned to her rat pack at the nurse's station, which included Elizabeth Webber, Nadine Crowell, Leyla Mir, Patrick Drake and…err where was that annoying Scorpio woman.

"Well Dr. Drake you should be happy with the news I'm about to tell you," Epiphany walked onto the nurses station where Patrick looked over his shoulder, "Oh yeah?"

"Yes," Epiphany walked over to the phone, "You three need to listen up to," she looked at her gossiping nurses before grabbing the phone where she saw the annoying Scorpio woman walking out with Maxie Jones.

"Oh good Dr. Scorpio, glad you could make it," she glanced down at her watch, "fifteen minutes late."

"I'm sorry Epiphany, but I had other pressing matters," she glanced at Maxie.

"I see well as I was about to say, Monica Quartermaine has told me to inform you all…"

"Inform us of what?" Dr. Julian walked up with Andy Archer.

"I'm beginning to think everyone already knows," Epiphany mused as Dr. Kelly Lee and Dr. Lainey Winters joined.

"Folders Nurse Mir," Lainey asked Leyla who was distracted by Maxie's presence.

"Sorry," she nervously looked up at her where as she handed the folders over she saw Dr. Bayard emerge from the elevator.

"Dr. Bayard!" Nadine perked up grabbing his patient folders and his coffee.

"Good luck," Leyla uttered leaning over the nurses' station much to Lainey and Kelly's annoyance, "Dr. Bayard sir! How are you doing this fine morning!"

Lainey looked from her shoulder, "I remember those sucking up days."

Kelly looked at her exasperated, "Hey they weren't that long ago Lainey!"

"Yeah!" Elizabeth joked, "No need making us feel older than we already are," she humored before freezing her smile as sadness came over her.

Lainey exchanged looks with Kelly as she handed her folders to her, "Jason?"

Leyla couldn't help but tune herself out of Nadine's plan and listen in on Elizabeth.

"I tell myself he's going to be okay," she pretended to smile at her colleagues.

"He will be" Kelly insisted as she rummaged through her files and finally found the folder of her first patient, "Maxie!"

Maxie quickly turned her head wondering from what direction her name had been called from until she saw Kelly poking her head out from the mini crowd around her, "I'll be with you in just a second!"

Maxie nodded before looking at Robin who was staring at Patrick, Leo and Andy who were antagonizing Epiphany over the announcement she had to make.

"Are you and Toussaint getting…Married?" Patrick flirtatiously joked.

"Dr. Drake! That is very inappropriate of you to ask here at work," she looked at him as she held the phone close to her mouth.

"Oh so you are?" Leo smirked.

"Come on…" Andy teased.

"Guys!" Robin looked at them, "Will you stop! Epiphany," Robin smiled at her, "You don't have to say anything."

"Why thank you Ms. Scorpio," Epiphany glared at the three stooges next to her, "Glad someone can be PROFESSIONAL."

"Hey," Patrick put his hands up in defense, "I was just being…"

"An egotistical jerk," Robin put in his mouth.

"ooh," Leo put his hand on Patrick's shoulder, "Someone's in the dog house."

"Shut up," Patrick whispered.

Maxie quietly giggled while leaning to Robin, "You've got him scared shit."

"Thanks to Oprah," Robin uttered back, "Patrick I think I'll be having lunch with Lainey, Kelly and Elizabeth today." She insisted before glancing at them.

"Robin did you say my name?" Elizabeth poked her head over the nurses station.

"Yeah, you up for lunch with me today?"

"Oh um I would, but…"

"But she's got a booty call with a charming man in leather," Dr. Lee joked jealously.

"Kelly!" Lainey bumped her shoulder where she chuckled parting from her two friends, "I'm just saying, if I had Jason Morgan waiting for me…" She grinned speechless.

"First!" Elizabeth laughed, "Jason is not waiting for me per say…" She giggled at their disbelieving looks.

"That's not what I heard," Kelly looked over to Maxie, "You ready?"

Maxie nervously nodded where Kelly hopefully smiled at her, "I'm sure everything is going to be okay…and Elizabeth, if he's not waiting for you then what's he doing at your studio?"

"Uh hum!" Epiphany cleared her throat, "Let's get back to work and leave Ms. Webbers love life out of it and MINE for that matter."

"Sounds like a good idea," Dr. Bayard smirked with a look of how eerie it is to hear such details.

"Oh you shut it doctor," Epiphany glared as he set his folders on the counter and grabbed his pen to make notes, "…or I won't scrub in on that emergency rotator cuff surgery."

"I stand down," he giggled looking at the three doctors next to him, "Ah to be young again." He grinned before glancing down at a paper he was filling out.

"Elizabeth?" Dr. Lainey Winters softly called her name, "Coffee when you get a break?"

"If she gets a break," Epiphany humorously raised her voice as she went about to dialing the numbers to make an announcement.

"There ya go, if I get a break I'll find you," Elizabeth joked and Lainey smiled, "Alright then, cheer up about you know who," she winked and then walked over to Robin, Kelly and Maxie.

"You want me to go with you?" Robin thoughtfully asked until she heard Lainey calling her name from behind, "Hey I'll catch up to you guys later."

"Oh sure thing and Lainey, Jakes tonight!" Kelly pointed at her not to bail out on her.

"Again?" Lainey smiled, "Long day."

"You have no idea, I swear if I could go back to med school I think I would have picked plastic surgery,"

"Yeah right," Robin started laughing where she could see in the corner of her eye Patrick eying her.

"She's laughing that's a good sign right?" He looked at Leo and Andy who weren't optimistic.

Dr. Bayard amusingly looked up, "What got you in trouble?"

"Being a smart ass," Epiphany glared at him before speaking into the phone making her last announcement, "All surgeries scheduled with Dr. Matt Hunter will be rescheduled until further notice. Matt Hunter is no longer on this staff and should therefore not be seen in any operating room or with any patient, if so see security."

"Well thank god something has gone right," Dr. Bayard smiled as signed the bottom of a prescription he was filling out, "That prick didn't do anything but beat up patient and piss the hell out of me." He smirked at the guys who were just as surprised as the ladies.

"What?" Dr. Bayard looked at them surprised, "The guy was horrible doctor who didn't have any bedside manner."

Maxie had to agree with him on that, she only remembered how close she came to losing Spinelli to a stupid lie that Matt would have loved to be true.

"Actually," Matt walked from the hallway with his bag in hand, "I was a good doctor…" He lingered until he stopped in front of the nurses' station giving Epiphany his badge and keycard, "Who just didn't worship the ground Damian Spinelli walked on."

Dr. Bayard nodded in annoyance, setting his pen down, "Shut your fucken mouth, a get your murdering ass out of this hospital."

Matt watched as Patrick, Leo and Andy stood behind Bayard ready to put up a fight, "Ooh I'm scared, Spinelli's watchmen are gonna get me…" He giggled where Dr. Bayard stepped closer into his face, "You got fired because you don't have the heart to save lives."

"Right," Matt huffed in amusement, "Coming from the gang who almost killed Mr. Spinelli."

Dr. Bayard crossed his arms, "Damian Spinelli is a good guy who got the upper hand on your preppy rich arrogant ass and that pisses you off." Matt negatively nodded looking away to see Maxie who wasn't flattered by his eyes on her.

"AND," Dr. Bayard raised his voice, "While I don't believe Mr. Spinelli is any more perfect than you or the rest of us, he most certainly is a sweet, kind, and warm hearted guy who cares very deeply for people."

"Good for him, good for you all, but I don't forget what I saw and neither will you," he looked at Maxie before glancing back at Dr. Bayard.

"And what is it you think you saw?" Dr. Bayard roughly grabbed his arm as he tried to walk away, "Huh? Damian Spinelli is suffering from a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"No he's not and you want to know why he's not, because I've had PTSD and the way he acts sometimes, isn't it!" Matt pulled away from his grip, "It's not and one day you all are going to wake up and realize that, that this is who he really is and then you're going to try to remember who it was that warned you. Me. Me."

"Doctor Hunter," Epiphany seriously said his name afraid things were going to get out of hand.

"I'm leaving," he looked away from her, "This hospital hasn't seen the last of me and neither have you sweet cheeks," Matt winked at Maxie with a sickening smile before turning to the elevator.

"Dr. Bayard," Epiphany calmly said his name, "Mr. Hunter is gone."

"Yeah," Leo's shoulder, "You can stop hunting him!" A burst of laughter came from the group where Dr. Bayard nodded his head, "Leo you're a real…"

"Comedian I know," he shrugged his shoulders as Dr. Bayard turned to him with a smirk.

"Alright let's get back to work," Epiphany looked at everyone in the room, "I'll see you in surgery doctor?" She looked a Bayard who nodded at her before she left.

"Well we got to go," Leo looked at Patrick, "Hey keep your pimp hand strong."

"Oh nice Leo, cause I'm a pimp and all," Patrick nodded non-amusingly before he saw Andy leave him too, "Hey."

"You look good honey, go suck up to her you whipped little man," Andy smirked before walking away with Leo.

"Robin," Patrick walked towards her, "I got to go, but I'll catch you two later?" He included Maxie, "Take you two glowing pregnant women to lunch."

"Ooh lunch?" Lainey eyed him like what an offer! Not.

"He's laying it on thick," Kelly teased knowing the two would cave in on each other.

"I suppose," Robin wrapped her arms around Patrick's neck, "You in Maxie?" Robin looked over to her to see she was looking at Dr. Bayard and what he was saying earlier. Did Spinelli really have that type of disorder? No he couldn't have she thought, he had never expressed difficulty getting over the shooting on the docks.

"Wow Dr. Bayard," Nadine smiled, "You were impressive standing up to a guy like half your age, oh I mean Aunt Raylene says age doesn't matter, but…"

"Nadine," Bayard whined, "All I need you to do is get this prescription filled for Damian Spinelli and then you can go onto bugging some other doctor for the rest of the day."

"Spinelli…and hey," she looked at him not amused by his insult.

"Yes Mr. Spinelli had a mild set back last night and I'd like to have that prescription filled by the time I'm done with my first surgery," he grabbed his files off the counter where he saw her still dumfounded, "Good nurses don't question the doctor, they just take orders."

"Oh right," she nodded nervously.

"Thanks for the coffee and you did good, but I just need to go-elsewhere-for-a-bit," he took the coffee in his hand and then turned to see that his audible words had been heard by Patrick, Robin, Maxie, Lainey and Kelly.

"Um Mr. Spinelli is not as injured as he should have been," he hinted to Maxie that he obviously knew what happened last night. "He won't be needing any surgery, he was quite happy about that."

"So he'll be okay then?" Robin asked knowing Maxie was just too…too in the moment still to really ask any questions.

"Oh yeah," he nodded reassuringly, "Some rest, some pain medication or simply Advil and ice will have him recovered in a few days, maybe a few weeks at the most," he smiled hopefully and then motioned to walk away from the awkward conversation. "Oh," he suddenly remembered, "And Dr. Lainey, I'm going to refer him to you. The only symptoms of PTSD he exhibits are hyperarousal, but it might not hurt to have him checked out. You all have a great day."

Lainey nodded and then turned to Maxie, "Has Spinelli had any difficulties getting over the shooting?"

"No, it's always been me," she said, but tried thinking back to any occasions.

"Okay, well you know what I'm sure he's just a little stressed with the shoulder and with what happened to Jason, and not to mention worrying about you."

"Me?" She looked at her instantly confused.

"Oh men worry about pregnant women constantly," Lainey glanced at Patrick who nodded, "It's true. We can't help it."

"See," Lainey smiled, "I'm sure all of that plus a bad heated situation caused a normal reaction of outbursts and anger. Nothing to worry about and if there is something we'll get him on the right medication and he'll be just fine." She paused quickly looking down at her watch, "Shoot I've got to go, but coffee break, gossip, Jakes and uh yeah!" She jetted down the hall.

"Maxie I don't want to have to rush you so.." Kelly politely hinted they get a move on and Maxie nodded taking a small deep breath where Robin looked at her, "You want company?"

"No I'll be okay, I'm sure everything is okay," she softly smile somewhat wishing Spinelli was with her because a part of her did care now, did care for the baby.

"Alright," Robin looked at her before glancing up at Patrick when they left, "So you believing anything Lainey said or Dr. Bayard?"

"I think that if it's not a disorder then it's a personality shift from the surgery, my only cause for concern is that he'll some day take his anger out on Maxie and harm her and their little baby to be," he sweetly kissed Robin's belly.

"I don't think it'll come to that though," Robin interjected where he agreed with a smile, "Neither-do-I."

Maxie followed Kelly into her office suddenly wishing she wasn't alone in this. She stood in the doorway having just watched the lights flicker on over the area she would soon be sitting in. Kelly booted her computer where she saw Maxie's nervous reflection,

"You want to go back and get Robin?" Kelly turned to her where Maxie scarcely nodded no.

"Very well then, have a seat," Kelly patted the table and then turned to her computer to pull Maxie's information up.

Maxie set her purse on the stool, the very stool Spinelli sat on when they were here two days ago, happy as could be.

"So," Kelly swiveled around in her chair, "You had some bad cramps last night?"

Maxie sat on the table, "Yeah, I just want to make sure everything is okay."

"Of course," Kelly got up from her chair, "How's the morning sickness?"

"The same as it was two days ago," Maxie unintentionally said with annoyance that appeared to be directed at Dr. Lee, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kelly looked down at Maxie's arm as she prepared to take her blood pressure, "Okay relax."

"Yeah right," Maxie replied darkly and Kelly insistently looked at her to try. Maxie felt the pressure getting tighter around her arm as her other hand rest on to the side of her waist with her fingers dancing around her abdomen.

"Have you fainted recently?" Kelly said suddenly sounding very 'doctor' to her.

"Twice yesterday," Maxie hesitantly said knowing she was about to get a lecture.

"Have you been drinking enough fluids, eating small meals?" Kelly said with a slight worried tone to her professional doctor voice

Maxie glanced up at her, "Yes and getting plenty of sleep."

"What about rest? Like just sitting down and relaxing? Not being on your feet for too long?"

Maxie slowly nodded wondering why Dr. Lee had this look on her face, "What is it?"

"Maxie," Dr. Lee looked away removing the pressure wrap from her arm, "I'm very concerned about your blood pressure."

"It's just…" She started to explain, but Kelly interrupted, "Whatever or whomever it is, is not an excuse to ignore your health or the baby's." Kelly turned away from her to turn on the monitor, "Your pressure is 150 over 95."

The number had surprised her. She never thought in just two-three days that her pressure would scale from 140 over 90 to the number it was at. What Dr. Lee said next to her was something she also never thought she'd be really worried to hear.

"I have no doubt," Kelly turned to her, "That if it stays like this for a few more weeks, you'll lose the baby."

There was a wet sensation building up in her eyes. It was that serious. Fear entered and consumed her.

"Maxie," Kelly softly looked at her, "I know yesterday was a bad day."

Maxie slowly nodded trying not to cry, but it seemed impossible to avoid it, "It was good and then it was bad and then it was good and then Mac…"

"Maxie," Kelly gently touched her hand, "You know what's right for you. Don't let Mac or Spinelli or anyone else make decisions for this baby."

"They have so many expectations," Maxie batted her eyes, "That..."

"I trust you," Kelly softly raised her voice, "This is your baby."

"Spinelli," Maxie whined and Kelly interrupted her once more, "loves you, but like most men they don't want to lose the woman they love in the process of having a baby." Kelly smiled, "Serious issues can arise if you don't calm yourself down, let Spinelli deal with his own battles and for goodness sake, enjoy this." She encouraged where Maxie hiccupped her tears, "This should be a happy time in your life. Now that everyone knows, it's up to you to make the final decision if this is something you want to do with Spinelli or even without him." Kelly smiled seeing Maxie's overwhelming smile, "Alright," Kelly giggled, "Let's just do an ultrasound and then you can get out of here."

Maxie wiped the tears from her eyes with a joyful nod as Kelly squeezed some gel on the transducer, "Have you and Spinelli thought of any names?"

"Yeah," Maxie softly laughed pulling her shirt back, "Danika for a girl."

"And for a boy?" Kelly scooted her chair closer.

"Um we're not expecting to have a little Jackal," Maxie smiled brightly.

Kelly looked at her surprised, "Well that didn't take long." Kelly teased as she ran the transducer along Maxie's still flat abdomen.

"I didn't have to do much convincing actually," Maxie smiled in a daze as she thought back to Spinelli coming home to her with roses yesterday evening.

"Oh you didn't?" Kelly chuckled while intently looking at the empty ultrasound.

"No," Maxie closed her eyes.

"_Now that has to be the sexiest thing I've seen all day."_

Even in just a memory, his voice brought a glimmer of excitement to her face.

"_These are for you."_

His beaming smile froze time as she remembered that honest look of happiness in his eyes.

"_I thought we'd try something a little different this time."_

The colors; baby pink orange, and yellow, were what she decided she wanted to be the baby's room as she quietly sat their waiting for Dr. Lee to say something.

"_These my darling Maximista are Flora Danika."_

_Danika,_ how did he know she'd like it as much as him?

"_That's what I thought." _

"Maxie?"

"_It means morning star and I think our little girl will the be the shinning star of our lives."_

"Maxie, I want you to put this gown on," Dr. Lee nervously looked at her bringing Maxie out of her distraction.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked as Dr. Lee put it in her hands.

"Probably not, just put this on, okay?" Dr. Lee quickly got up from her chair not wanting to create panic that she couldn't find a heart beat.

Maxie leaned up from the table with more questions in mind, but decided to just follow her instructions and perhaps she'd get the answers she wanted sooner. As she got undress she felt that pretty little picture she reminisced of disappearing. When she turned to the exam table to sit back up on it, it was then she noticed the monitor.

"Maxie," Dr. Lee called her name noticing she might have put the pieces together.

"You can't find her can you?" Maxie set her hands on her hips wondering just what would happen if she had to tell Spinelli that she had lost their blueberry.

Dr. Lee unnervingly looked at her before setting down the probe, still in its plastic bag, down on her desk. "First," she turned her, "this is not the time to get yourself all bent out of shape." She set her hand on Maxie's shoulder to encourage her to sit down, "I need you to stay positive, lie down and put your legs up here."

Maxie stared at her not wanting to do this for the fear that she had miscarried, but Dr. Lee looked her straight in the face, "If you had miscarried there would have been blood and there hasn't been, right?"

"No," Maxie quickly nodded.

"So there's no need worrying yourself," Dr. Lee smiled with hope, "Relax and breathe."

Maxie slowly nodded where as soon as Kelly turned away from her she pulled herself onto the table, lied down and put her legs up in the metal rests.

"Okay," Dr. Lee swiveled in her chair with the probe in her hand, "You're going to feel some pressure."

Maxie rested her hand behind head grabbing onto the cushion as she felt the pressure that Dr. Lee was talking about and desperately tried not to freak out. She needed something to focus on. Not a memory, not some stupid object in the room, not even a goal as to what she'd do after the appointment. As she pondered how to keep herself from stressing out she glanced down at her hand on her stomach. That was when she saw the ring on her finger the one he gave her when they found out she was pregnant.

_I promise that it will be you and me forever._

She wondered if that promise still existed, she wondered if even after she cursed him and their family if there was still a 'you and me' and a baby.

_Whenever you feel like things aren't going to be okay._

Maxie intently looked up at the monitor.

_When you feel alone._

The emptiness and the silence brought true tears to her eyes.

_Or we're apart because…some stupid fight._

The absence of the Jackal...

_When you lose faith in us._

Made it so much harder to accept.

_You can look at this ring _

She couldn't though. She looked away from the screen and looked up at the ceiling with her eyes closed.

_Remember all the memories we've made _

"You doing okay Maxie?"

…_and all the times we've come back to each other._

"Yeah," she said with her eyes closed knowing Dr. Lee was about to say the worst because the worst always happened. She lost Spinelli last night and she'd lose the baby too, domino effect.

"Well you should be," Dr. Lee smiled, "Because it looks like your baby is done playing hide and go seek."

Her eyes opened wide, "You're sure?" Maxie stared at the screen, getting lost in the heartbeat and the little movement on the monitor. Maybe she hadn't messed everything up.

"Yup," Dr. Lee hit a few keys on her computer and got a closer look, "Here's a better look than the other day." She then pointed to the screen, "The dark circle, is the amniotic sac and that in the middle is the embryo otherwise known as Danika or if a boy perhaps Daniel or Damian junior whatever you two decide." Dr. Lee glanced at Maxie to see that perhaps for the first time she was really opening up to the idea of motherhood.

"Um," Maxie pointed to the screen, "The flicker?"

"That's the heartbeat, strong heart beat too." Dr. Lee raised her eyebrow with a smirk.

"Wow," Maxie huffed in surprise, "That's amazing."

Dr. Lee smiled, "Yes, the miracle of life is an amazing gift."

Maxie warmly glanced down at her abdomen, setting her hands on her waist, "Can I get another photo?" Maxie wiped the tear strolling down her cheek, "Since you said this was a better look?"

"Certainly," Dr. Lee hit a key, taking a photo and then removed the probe. "I'll let you get dressed while I get the photos. Keep in mind what I mentioned earlier about your blood pressure. I want you to rest for the rest of the weekend."

"I will," Maxie graciously nodded, "Thank you."

"Just take care of yourself," Kelly set the probe down in a tray nearby, "And take care of your baby," Kelly threw her plastic glove in the trash, "And I won't put you on bed rest." She got up from her chair and left the room.

"Playing hide and go seek," Maxie amused nodding negatively, "Worrying me is more like it. Don't you ever do that again, not until your born and then we'll make a whole new set of rules." Maxie smiled in huge relief before getting off the table and beginning to get dressed, "Now if we can find out where your daddy is, we'll get some takeout from Kelly's and then go see him that is if he wants to see us, but I'm sure he will."

Spinelli though was completely passed out still from last night. He'd awaken for short periods of time questioning where he was but was in too much pain to move so he'd slip back into a deep sleep.

Maxie walked out of the office staring at her photo until she reached the very end of the hall where she saw Nadine enter Dr. Bayard's office with a small white bag. Hiding, Maxie pondered the humorous thought, like mother like daughter, and then once the crazy blonde left the office she put her plan into action.

"Come in," Dr. Bayard looked up hearing the knock where he saw another blonde, "It's you."

Maxie closed the door and then nervously looked up at him, "I know you probably don't like me, but I was wondering if I could give me Spinelli's medication."

Dr. Bayard leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, "What makes you think I know where he is?"

"Well you said you needed the prescription filled before your first surgery so you were probably thinking of giving it to him on your break and I thought I could save you the hassle and…"

"First," Dr. Bayard raised his finger in interruption, "It's not a hassle to help Spinelli. I don't mind running over to the place because it's fairly close by."

"Oh well," Maxie nervously swallowed, "Maybe you could tell me where he's at and…"

"Sit down," he kindly looked at her before leaning onto his desk, "Go on doll face."

Maxie awkwardly looked at him, but never the less sat down.

"Girl, you've given my patient a whole mess of problems. While he may not blame you for last night, he has some anger for your father and I'm not sure if…"

"Sir," she honestly looked at him, "I'm angry at my own father as well and last night should have never ended like it did. I would never want to hurt Spinelli, but something has happened and I really need to see him and tell him about it."

Dr. Bayard eyed the cute girl who had this charm about her, "If your expecting to have a deep emotional conversation with him you won't be having it today."

"Um," Maxie stupidly looked at him wondering why not for that was the primary reason she wanted to see him.

"My little brother didn't exactly have any proper medication to put Spinelli out of his misery last night, he's probably still sleeping off a hangover."

"Oh well I've seen Spinelli drunk, I'm sure I can handle him," she giggled.

"Oh I don't doubt it, it's just that Spinelli really needs to rest, so if you see him, I wouldn't stay much longer than an hour or so," he reluctantly pushed the bag forward.

"Thank you," Maxie happily smiled, "You don't know how much this means to me."

"Yeah, yeah," Dr. Bayard looked away from her and scribbled some directions down, "Now go on before I change my mind."

Maxie could barely control her smile as she placed the directions and the bag of pills in her bag, "Have a great day doctor!"

"Uh huh," Dr. Bayard watched the door close and then picked up his phone to call his brother.

"Hey Mickey...err," he realized it was the answering machine, "Look I won't be able to drop off his meds so Damian's girl friend or friend whatever they are, yeah she's dropping bye. I said she could see him, looked important so just do me a favor and don't hassle her. Bye brother and don't watch too much Disney Mickey Mouse!"

"Schmuck!" Mickey said as he walked from the garage catching the last words of his brother's message, "Mickey Mouse…Schmuck!" He shouted once more at the answering machine as he walked passed it to the room Spinelli was staying in.

"Okay Damian, let's get up!"

"Nooo," Spinelli dreadfully whined like a little boy being woken up by his mother to get ready for school.

"Stop being a baby," Mickey stood at his bed where he saw Spinelli turn away with a bigger whine, "Ahh there is no baby! That's what she said."

Mickey rolled his eyes, "Well maybe if you to take a shower you'll give her a reason to keep the baby."

"Eh," Spinelli looked at himself in disgust, "I smell like old people."

"Hey," Mickey grabbed the pillow Spinelli was hiding under, "I take offense to that," he threw the pillow back at him.

Spinelli grabbed it with good hand laughing, "The grasshopper is just kidding Mr. Myagi."

"Oh no you don't," Mickey turned to the night stand pouring him a glass of water, "You are not calling me those names again."

Spinelli took the glass in his hand, "No Rocky Balboa?"

"I'm gonna get that shower for you started," He backed away to the bathroom, "You just see how much energy you have." Spinelli took a deep breath as he sat up on the bed and played with his hair that felt grungy with dried blood, "Yuck."

"It's not as disgusting as what's under the shirt," Mickey humored as he walked over to him.

"The Jackal's a mess," Spinelli sighed at feeling dirty.

"Yes well, we're about to change that and this," Mickey flicked away his long bangs.

"Oh?" Spinelli asked taking a swig of alcohol from the bottle next to the glass of water, "What you going to do?" He pushed his little finger against Mickey's chest.

"Eh Damian, just when I think your awake, you still got your head in the gutter," he tried to take the bottle away where Spinelli giggled taking one last sip, "That's Damian," he enthused in an Australian accent, "For you."

"Now you're Australian?" Mickey tried to grab the bottle again where Spinelli grinned like a hopeless dope, "Yup mate!"

"That's it, give it Damian!" Mickey grabbed hold of the bottle where Spinelli whined, "I am nothing without…"

"Don't say it!" Mickey eyed him with his hand tightly around the bottle.

"Her…" Spinelli let loose of the bottle and then leaned back on the wall.

"Alright Damian!" Mickey put the bottle down, "Let's uh go."

Spinelli wrapped his good arm around him, "I'm just bruised and battered."

"Not for long," Mickey lifted him up where Spinelli instantly began to limp, "We're going to fix you squeaky clean."

Spinelli giggled as they approached the bathroom doorway, "Mr. Clean…"

"No," Mickey looked away unamused, but Spinelli became more confident that Mr. Clean should be his new nickname. "Hey Mick," Spinelli leaned in obviously a very tipsy still, "What do you get when you mix Viagra and Mr. Clean?"

Mickey pushed the door open, "Gee what Damian?"

"Rise and Shine!" Spinelli glanced at him chuckling where Mickey annoyingly nodded, "You teenagers…" He cursed, "Ungrateful little punks…"

"Oh don't be a poop!" Spinelli jokingly looked away, "Oh I'm going to be sick…" He emptied his stomach into the toilet, "Oh hell."

"Here you stupid ass," Mickey through a towel at him, "That's what you get for drinking when you don't really need to!"

"On the contrary," Spinelli wiped his mouth, "I have all the reason to drink." Spinelli slammed the towel on the counter, "I have nothing."

"Poor Damian," Mickey crossed his arms leaning on the doorframe.

"Yes, poor me," Spinelli unbuttoned his shirt with his left hand, "I have no arm." He giggled, "Seeing as it's taking me forever…" He paused as Mickey motioned to help him.

"No," Spinelli put his hand up to just stop him from coming forward, "I can do this by myself…" He unbuttoned the last three buttons, "But I have no working appendage," he slowly took the shirt off, "Gaawd." He clenched his jaw, "I have no clothes to wear because everything I own either…" He brought the shirt to his nose, "Smells like her or…" He opened his eyes, "Was touched by her or kissed by her." He threw it to the ground, "That bitch," Spinelli clenched his jaw, "Threw it all in my face." Spinelli wrapped a white towel around his waist, "After I went around like a little pompous ass trying to get away from the work that I LOVE." He paused in disgust while he pulled his boxers down. He stepped out of his boxers and turned to the shower where as his hand pulled the curtain back, he stopped for a second. "I…I just don't understand why it wasn't enough, you know?" He looked back at Mickey, "I mean I don't know if I would have been a good dad, but damn it…I told myself that if I was ever going to be a dad that I was going to do right by my kid and be there, be there for the soccer games, for the father daughter dances, for the parent teacher conferences."

"Then be there." Mickey leaned off the doorframe fed up with his whining.

"Be there?" Spinelli questioned him wondering how he was going to just be there for a child that she wanted to act like it didn't exist.

"Yeah," Mickey looked at him point blank, "If this bothers you so much. Get a damn court order and force her to have the kid…"

"I can't do that," Spinelli knew he didn't have the mean bone in his body to cruelly force her to do something she didn't want to do.

"Then," Mickey picked up the clothes from the floor, "You say to hell with her father and to everyone else and it's you and her against the world."

"No," Spinelli looked away from him where Mickey annoyingly threw his clothes in the sink, "No? Then you deserve to have your broken heart."

Spinelli angrily jerked his head to him, "She wouldn't go for it!"

"Yeah right," Mickey snapped up at him, "You know what your problem is!"

"What!" Spinelli stood in front of the short man.

"You give up too easily!" Mickey looked down at the patch on Spinelli's waist.

"No I don't! OW!" Spinelli annoyingly eyed the old man as his he ripped the patch off.

"If there's anything I taught you, it's that it isn't over until it's over."

"And how am I supposed to know if it's over? Huh? How am I supposed to know if she's just as miserable as I am right now, huh?"

"Fight for her." Mickey grinded his teeth, "Now sit down you moron so I can take your bandage off and you can get your ass in that shower and be one step closer to getting yourself the life you want."

"Gawd you're so demanding!" Spinelli pulled the toilet seat cover down and sat down.

"You know you really are a pain in the ass," Mickey annoyingly glared at the boy whom he felt was like a grandson to him.

"Likewise," Spinelli grunted, but really couldn't stand to be angry with him.

"Damian, for all you know she's worried sick about you."

Spinelli sighed, tapping his cheek with his fingers, "You didn't see her last night."

"No I didn't," Mickey paused as he unraveled the bandages, "And I don't know a lot about women Damian. I don't have any children, but I do know what regret feels like."

Spinelli looked over his shoulder to see Mickey becoming annoyed at revealing some painful memory from his past, "It'll eat you up forever and make you bitter and cold and a hard ass like me."

"I'm so-rry," Spinelli uttered feeling guilty now.

"Don't sorry me," Mickey grumpily looked at him, "I'm not some ruined man because I chose the road not taken." Mickey sighed softly, "I'm just saying that don't assume you know what she's feeling and if you're ready to quit after one fight. Then maybe you two really have no business being together because relationships take work."

"I know it's not going to be easy," Spinelli folded his hands over his face.

"That's right, you're going to have to work at it everyday, but you should want to do that with her if you truly love her," Mickey took the last of the bandages off.

"I do," Spinelli assuredly nodded.

"Good cause I'm getting tired of talking about this chick stuff," Mickey looked away from him grabbing the bandages and putting them in the trash.

"You know I liked it better when you were just a short old man who was my trainer."

"And I liked it when you were just a blabbering punk who I couldn't understand."

They both grunted at their stubborn annoying selves until they couldn't stand to be angry at each other anymore.

"I'll check up on you in a bit and that hot water is going to hurt, but I'm pretty sure you can handle it, she hasn't taken your balls yet, has she?"

"Hell no, but I'm thinking old age took yours!" Spinelli chuckled.

"Eh shut up!" Mickey grabbed Spinelli's clothes and burst out of the room. He quietly laughed to himself as he walked to the washer where after starting the laundry up he entered the kitchen. The flashing light on his answering machine bugged him so as he poured himself a glass of milk he listened to his brother's message. As soon as the blonde twit was mentioned to be stopping by, he glared at the machine.

"Damn it," he cursed like a bad sailor for although he knew Spinelli would like to see her, he also knew that he didn't. What was even worse was that he knew Ms. Maxie Jones was a determined woman to get what she wanted and if she wanted to see Spinelli, by golly she'd find a way to make it happen.

"Hey Mike," Maxie smiled brightly as she walked to the counter.

"Well hey Maxie," he excitedly smiled, "Haven't seen you in here for a while. How are you doing?"

"Pregnant," she smiled like it was the greatest news ever.

"Oh congratulations," he put his hands on his hips, "I thought I had heard something like that, but wasn't sure if it was true."

"Yeah," she surprisingly smiled, "Spinelli is pretty excited."

"Oh I bet, he's going to be a great dad. I used to see him in here with Morgan and Cameron, talking up video games. They adored him."

Maxie giggled, "Yeah he's hoping in the back of his mind it's a boy, but we're thinking girl."

"Well," Mike leaned over the counter, "What can I get you two girls?" He winked in sarcasm.

"I think we'll take one cheese burger and a grilled cheese sandwich to go."

"And with French fries and all that mess of junk food?"

"Yes," she giggled once more.

"Coming right up," he walked into the back and she took a seat at the counter. It was odd sitting at the counter for it seemed like she hadn't done that since Georgie and Coop were alive. How different her whole was now in just a couple of months and how quickly her life would be something other in just a few more months.

"Maxie?" Alexis softly called her name as she stood at the counter with Kristina and Molly.

"Uh hey," Maxie looked over to her, "You seem to have your hands full."

"Yeah I do," she put Molly in one chair and then Kristina in the other, "Ric is out of town and Sonny just can't be bothered."

"Alexis!" Mike shouted, "Well it's a great day when I get to see some old faces, how are grandchildren doing?"

Alexis smiled, but with a sigh, "They are hungry for something sweet."

"Oh like chocolate cake?" Mike smiled as he saw the girls clap their hands when he revealed it from the counter.

Alexis leaned her head over to Maxie, "Amazing what chocolate can do."

Maxie amusingly smiled, "Ye-ah."

Alexis looked right at her feeling the awkwardness between them, "Maxie I'm not trying to…"

"I know," Maxie interrupted, "I actually think this is good for him because the more involved he gets in their lives, the less he'll be involved in mine."

Alexis glanced back at her daughters somewhat disturbed by Maxie's comment, "He loves you."

"I don't doubt that he does and I don't exactly love him any less for what happened last night, unless he meant everything he said."

Alexis looked at him, "You know he did and I have to agree with him."

Maxie coldly looked at her, "Mike," she glanced away from her, "How's that order coming along?"

"Five more minutes," he shouted from the back.

"Maxie look at what happened to Michael," Alexis said knowing that her presence was annoying her future step daughter, "Carly thought he was safe."

Maxie rolled her eyes, "It was accident Alexis."

"My children," Alexis looked at both her daughters sweetly eating their cake having no idea of what was being talked of, "Were kidnapped with body guards watching them."

Maxie glanced at her with this bitchy look wondering if she was done talking, but Alexis was far from listing other cases, "Elizabeth Webber."

"Her son was kidnapped by a crazy woman who had just lost her own child," Maxie honestly looked at her wondering if she was really going to go there.

"They thought it was someone connected to Jason."

"No," Maxie raised her voice, "That's just your answer and my father's answer to every crime committed in Port Charles."

"You're not going to turn against your father over Spinelli?" Alexis wrongfully looked at her knowing she wouldn't be able to do it.

"I hope I don't have to and I don't want to, but this is Spinelli we're talking about."

"I know," Alexis softly smiled, "And he's a sweet guy, but what do you really know about him? He's worked for Alcazar, Sonny and Jason, who knows what other BAD people," she stressed, "He worked for or what other crimes he's allegedly committed."

Maxie looked away from her knowing full well that Spinelli had a past, but so did she. She knew his shit and he knew hers and at the end of the day she didn't care and neither did her. So what did it matter if they still wanted each other?

Alexis could see Mike just about done putting Maxie's order together and so she turned to her giving one last piece of advice, "You never think it'll happen to you. I don't think Monica Quartermaine ever thought she'd lose her daughter and her son AND her husband to that kind of violence."

"Yeah well I never thought I'd lose Georgie and Cooper in the same year and I did," Maxie looked at Alexis like she knew full well what grieving was like.

"Maxie, my intention is not to upset you, but consider Sam. She can't have children because she was shot. Skye had to form a whole new identity in order to protect her daughter from Alcazar who turned on her."

"Spinelli would never turn on me," Maxie glared at her, "Spinelli would never leave me like you forced Jason to leave Sam."

"Love has a way bringing the best and worst out of people," Alexis tenderly looked at her, "What love will be left if enemies of Spinelli hurt you or your child?"

"You don't know the depths of our love,"

"Okay, then let me ask you this. Could you live with yourself if Spinelli acted out in revenge? Even if you and your child were okay after an attack, could you sleep at night knowing he might turn himself inside out to get vengeance."

"No I couldn't, but Spinelli would never do that because he and I learned together that even if you find the person who took someone away from you, it doesn't bring them back or change what happened." Maxie proudly looked her straight in the face before turning away from her to see Mike with her order.

"Here you go," Mike put the order on the counter, "I included some chocolate chip cookies."

"Thanks," Maxie got off the stool where she looked into her purse, "How much do I owe you?"

"It's on the house."

"Really?" She surprisingly looked at him, happy that someone could be happy.

"Yeah, you two have a great day," he winked at her before going into the back.

"Well gee, look at that. A person who could be happy for me." Maxie grabbed the bag off the counter where as she turned to walk away, "Oh and by the way, the baby and I are doing fine after last night cause I know that was on your top priority list as becoming my new step mother."

"Maxie," Alexis hurtfully looked at her, but she took off before Alexis could clear up that she was concerned her.

"Maxie!" Mac shouted seeing her frustratingly run out of Kelly's, "Maxie!" She heard her name again, but she couldn't talk to him. For the first time since this whole ordeal, she was actually happy to be pregnant and to hear such negativity was not something she needed to bring her back to being undecided about the entire thing. As she drove to this mysterious location she consumed her thoughts to a more positive nature, Spinelli. If he didn't want to talk to her, she hoped that at least he'd want to have a silent lunch with her. Maybe just seeing her would be enough. Maybe if he saw the picture that would be enough as well. If it weren't then she could always resort to being her annoying blabbering self and tell him what happened today. Tell him that deep down she really did want to do this with him. Most importantly though she'd hope to convince him that she was his family, not just Sam and Jason.

"Mr. Clean?" Spinelli shouted as he opened the bathroom door. He noticed almost instantly the room was different. The bed had been made with fresh sheets put on. The bottle of alcohol was gone along with the jug and glass of water. His clothes were folded on the bed with all his personal belongings resting beside it. It was funny because he never saw Mickey for a clean guy and yet the room was spotless. "Mickey?" Spinelli shouted as he limped out the doorway, "Did some cleaning I see." He said until he heard the sound of an engine starting up. He turned to the window and opened the blinds where he noticed right away the dark grey clouds, the wind and an old spunky man getting looks from young teenagers and adults at his cool ride. Spinelli laughed until it hurt which didn't take long and then peered away from the window as his Aston Martin went into the garage. He put his boxers and jeans on, threw the towel over his bare naked shoulders and limped his way to the garage so he could ask Mickey to put his bandages on.

"Hey Mick," Spinelli shortly paused the second he opened the door. It was as if Mickey truly was Spinelli's Mr. Myagi. Inside the small garage held storage of three classic vehicles that had Spinelli shocked. There was so much more to this lonely man than he ever thought there was. A white, orange striped 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z-1 RS SS, a black with red sideburns 1959 Austin Healy and a red 1955 Ford Thunderbird.

"Oh you're done," Mickey surprisingly looked at him, "I was just going to clean the front seat of your car before blood ruins the seats."

"Ye-ah thanks," Spinelli walked further into the garage, "You have a nice collection here."

Mickey smiled, "I should probably get you bandaged up and give you that hair cut."

"How much would you sell the Camaro for?" Spinelli ignored him as he walked to the Chevrolet with no hood and gazed at the orange leather interior.

"Not for sale."

"What about a trade?"

"A trade, you've lost your mind."

"No," Spinelli smiled, "You'd be getting a helluva deal."

"What kind of driver are you?"

Spinelli oddly looked at him where Mickey got walked over to him, "This is a work of art. I don't want to give it to some snot nosed punk who will crash it in a week."

"Mickey?" Spinelli looked at him slightly offended, "Does the Jackal look like a guy who would crash this."

"Uh YEAH." Mickey said with DUH written all over his face.

"I've had that for over a month and haven't destroyed it, well except for the blood, but…"

"But no," Mickey honestly looked at him where Spinelli got his bargain face on, "What if I give you the car and a hundred grand?"

"You think this is about money?" Mickey looked at him almost offended.

"No…I just."

"Come on," Mickey motioned, pushing him forward, "Think you can throw your money at me."

"No, but I don't understand why any of these beautiful cars are sitting here collecting dust when they should be out in the sun enjoying life."

"If this is one of those metaphors…"

Spinelli abruptly turned to him, "Come on, how about…"

"How about you get your behind in the house."

"Gawd you're the most irritating man on the face of this earth."

"And you're the most irritating stubborn little Jackass since Jason Morgan."

Spinelli smirked, "That might be true."

"Right," Mickey nodded as they walked through the doorway back into the house, "Now how's your arm feeling?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Mickey confusingly looked up at him where Spinelli grew to despise that look of stupidity he had, "I'm trying not to move it."

"Well," Mickey looked away from him, "Your meds should be here soon."

"Good," Spinelli smiled in relief.

"Yup," Mickey nervously looked back at the door wondering when the bomb would drop.

"So what's with all the cleaning?" Spinelli raised a suspicious eyebrow as they walked back into the room.

"You want to avoid an infection don't you?" Mickey used as an excuse.

Spinelli nodded, "I suppose." He sat down on the bed where Mickey joined him with the fresh bandages.

"You want to," Mickey insistently looked up at him, "Because if you don't you'll have to have surgery."

"Oh well in that case, Mr. Clean…Ow," he chuckled as Mickey placed the patch over the cut on his waist.

"Keep that up and I'll be harder on the next one," Mickey assured him as he put a mini bandage over a cut on Spinelli's forehead.

"Oww," Spinelli chuckled.

"I barely even pressed on it," Mickey laughed back.

"Well it still hurt," Spinelli whined with a bit of humor.

"You're trying to get sympathy points and you're not going to get them from me." Mickey turned away from him where he taped on a gauze patch on the back of his right shoulder, "It's really important you keep these wounds clean. New patches every day."

"Yes sir," Spinelli playfully saluted at him.

Mickey amusingly huffed, "You have any friends in the service?" Mickey looked at him before grabbing the elastic bandage.

"Um," Spinelli scratched his head, "I did. I don't know if he's still in the service or…even if he's alive." Spinelli pondered the thought wondering why he had not thought of his dear friend in such a long time.

"You should check in with old friends like that," Mickey looked down at the left side of Spinelli's chest down by his armpit, "Lift the arm."

"This is going to be uncomfortable isn't it?"

"Your stitches really need to stay in, this is the best way to keep them in." He honestly explained and Spinelli lifted his arm. Taking the elastic bandage, he wrapped it under the arm of opposite of the injured shoulder and then draped it across his chest to the shoulder.

Spinelli stiffened his jaw as he felt the pressure, "Could you loosen it just a tad bit so the Jackal can breathe?"

"For the Jackal," he tried to loosen it and then attached the bandage to the clip. "There we go," he smiled in success before putting his right arm in a sling.

"I can't tell you enough how much I'm enjoying this," Spinelli sarcastically looked at him.

"It should only be for a few more days," Mickey turned away from him grabbing the trash, "You still want that haircut?"

"Yes please," Spinelli gratefully smiled, "Hey why do you say I should uh check in with old friends?"

Mickey walked into the bathroom with Spinelli following behind, "You never know when it's gonna be too late."

An eerie feeling passed through Spinelli then. It was odd to him how people he hadn't thought of in years were suddenly making an appearance in his life. Of the three messages he had received yesterday, the ones that weren't from Jax or Jason, were from a person, a place, and a time, he had never wanted to go back to. What was the significance of needing to reconnect with such a past? Why couldn't he let things stay forgotten and buried? Was it some sort of sign not to let Port Charles be that of what Oakfield meant to him? He had lost Jason and Maxie. What was really keeping him here anymore? That was when he began to think of other options his life could run its course.

"So how do you want this?" He heard Mickey ask with the clipper, plugged in and turned on.

"Can you not look so evil with that?" Spinelli creepily eyed him with a smirk.

"Um no," Mickey grabbed a tower and put it across his shoulders, "Here sit on the edge of the tub."

"Can I trust you with that?" Spinelli envisioned Edward scissor hands in front of him.

"I worked in a barber shop as a kid."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better."

"Do you want to loose the bangs and then fuzz on the sides?"

Spinelli shut his mouth and Mickey went about trimming the sides and back of his hair before cutting his long strains in front. "Okay," Mickey grabbed a mirror, "Tell me if this is go-od," Mickey stumbled on the last word as he heard the doorbell ring.

"I'm gonna get that," Mickey back treaded out the bathroom hoping that it wasn't who he was expecting, but unfortunate for him it was. As he rushed to the door he could see through his window it was pouring outside and Ms. Maxie Jones was a little soaked.

Maxie stood outside holding a newspaper over her head and her takeout from Kelly's in her other hand along with a case of orange soda and a bag of BBQ chips cradled in the arm like a baby. This was not exactly how she pictured the evening, with her hair frazzled and her outfit just a little damp, but she didn't care anymore. Life was never going to be perfect. No matter how hard you tried, there were always going to be struggles in life and she wanted those struggles with Damian Spinelli. She stood with heart on her sleeve ready to do anything to get her man of action back.

The door swung open and Mickey could tell she looked flustered, "Hi, I know you don't like me but."

"Oh for heaven sake come inside," Mickey helped her in after see she was more than just a little soaked she was sort of shivering.

"Um," Maxie shook off the newspaper while Mickey set her things on a table nearby.

"Shhh," he looked at her putting his finger to his mouth.

"Oh is he asleep?" She softly smiled, but stopped when she heard Spinelli's distant voice "Hey Miiiiick?"

"No," Mickey looked away from the bedroom, "He's awake and won't exactly be happy to see you."

She had to accept that he might react that way, "Well I have his medicine." She reached into her purse where Mickey could hear footsteps.

"Mick," Spinelli walked in with his black dress shirt in his left hand "Can you?" He paused when his eyes that had been focused on his shirt, caught a glimpse of red low heels.

"Err," Spinelli slowly glanced up at them with a glare where he lost his words at the sight of her, "help me?"

Mickey felt the deer in headlights glare become that of a cold angry one, "Uhh…" He glanced at Maxie, "Look who brought you your medication!" Mickey grinned back at Spinelli who became very pissed off very quickly.

"Aww that's great," he sighed sarcastically, "Thanks for setting me up Mickey, I'll go back to my room now."

Maxie lowered her shoulders and frowned, "Spinelli," but even her fragile voice couldn't stop him from turning his back to her.

"Damian, you get back here," Mickey raised his voice.

"No it's okay," Maxie turned away trying to hide her disappointment.

"No," Mickey looked at her gently touching her shoulder, "You just hold on. You're not going anywhere in this weather."

"OH," Spinelli turned back, "You can take this with you. It still smells like you so…yeah." He dropped it on the ground taking in her hurt look before quickly turning away.

"HEY!" Mickey shouted.

"No," Maxie shyly nodded, "I don't want to push him if he doesn't…"

Mickey watched as Spinelli disappeared into the hall, "No, he does." Mickey turned to her, "We were just talking about you."

_That was good news_, she told herself, _right_?

"You just have a seat," Mickey gently brought her to the couch and sat her down, "I'll turn him around."

Maxie slowly nodded, "Thank you." She tried to say without crying.

"Aw there's no need for tears Ms. Jones," Mickey softly smiled, "I don't think he expected to see you so soon."

"There are things I have to tell him," Maxie leaned back on the couch taking a deep breath before resting her hands on her waist.

"Don't worry," Mickey got up from the couch, "You'll get to tell him." He assured her before turning to pick up the black shirt, "You just relax."

She was genuinely surprised at how nice he was being considering he never seemed to like her before. His efforts though were greatly appreciated.

Just as Mickey motioned to the open the door Spinelli quickly opened it shouting, "I don't want her…" He would have finished that statement with 'here', but Mickey quickly shoved him into his room, "Oww…"

"Shut up!" Mickey shouted just loud enough for Maxie to her.

"Gah," Spinelli tenderly touched his right shoulder that was now agitated, "Why are you so strong for an old man!"

Maxie humorously huffed at Spinelli's words before sliding her hand over her mouth in further amusement as Mickey replied back with "Because I just am Mr. Grasshopper!"

"Don't call me Mr. Grasshopper!"

"Don't call me old man!"

Maxie hiccupped a giggle at their banter.

"Now you're going to sit in your damn room and be damn well happy that Ms. Jones took the time out her day to bring your sorry ass some medicine."

"Fine!"

"Fine?" Mickey questioned and Spinelli looked at him senseless, "I just said so didn't I?"

Maxie smiled hearing him give in, surely she'd be able to work her charm to break down the defenses he put up.

Mickey glared at him like a father disappointed in his son, "I swear I'd kick your ass if I was you're father!"

"Yeah I'm sure he would too if he had been allowed to raise me!"

Maxie's ears slightly perked hearing that. Suddenly words that Alexis had mentioned of what she really knew about him, fluttered into her mind.

"I trusted you," Spinelli uttered in a upsetting matter.

"I didn't call her," Mickey approached him as Spinelli collapsed himself to the bed, "My brother gave her the medicine. I don't know why, but he did."

Spinelli took a deep breath folding his hand over his face, "You know it really sucks only having one hand to do this."

Mickey laughed joining him on the bed. "Well you can probably use it once you take some medicine which you can't take on an empty stomach."

Spinelli looked over to Mickey who was looking at the black shirt in his hand, "She brought you lunch." Mickey looked up at him where he slowly helped him put the shirt on, "Now she's not asking a lot, just for you to listen."

"Okay," Spinelli reluctantly nodded remembering something his wise master once said _It's the simple act of listening that counts._

"If I bring her in here, I don't want to hear any arguing. She might have hurt you, but you do not disrespect a woman. Especially one who looks stressed out, worried and in need of some…" Mickey looked away saying softly, "Jackal loving."

"What did you say?" Spinelli surprisingly looked at him.

"Jackal loving," Mickey said before looking him straight in the face, "I never call you Mr. Jackal so don't take it for granted."

Spinelli grunted, "I guess I'll be nice."

"You will be nice." Mickey corrected him.

"I will be nice," Spinelli interjected and Mickey got up from his bed, "I'll be in the garage working on your if you need me."

Spinelli nodded before looking away from him, "Thanks."

"Hair cut looks good," Mickey uttered as he walked to the doorway, "Oh and you're welcome."

Spinelli smirked at him where Mickey returned the same goofy smile, "Get comfortable."

Spinelli chuckled as he left the room and positioned himself against the pillows where he began to develop a sick nervous feeling in his stomach. He had made a promise to Mickey to keep his cool, but he wasn't sure if he could really be_ nice_.

"Alright Ms. Jones," Mickey walked in to see she was mindlessly staring at her hands.

"Yeah," she quickly looked up hoping their fight was not as bad as it sounded.

"He's all yours," Mickey grinned as he walked over to the fridge.

"Really?" Maxie stood up from the couch watching him put handfuls of ice into a zip lock bag.

"Yes," Mickey turned to her, "His stubborn ass is sitting on a bed ready for you to say whatever you came here to say."

Maxie sensed a little sting in his words directed to her, "I know you don't like me."

"What gave you that idea?" He tried to say non-sarcastically as he walked over to her.

"This really is all my fault and…"

"Ms. Jones," he interrupted for he really didn't want to hear her get into a high pitch speech.

"I love him," she uttered before he could stop her.

"Then prove it," he raised his eyebrow, "As for me I'll be in the garage if he starts being a disrespectful little punk."

Maxie giggled, "Okay um…" She nervously looked away from him, "Thanks." She pulled him into a hug that surprised the heck out of him. She pulled away sliding one hand into her back pocket and the other to wipe away a tear, "I never thanked you before. You really knew what you were doing."

"Genuinely I do," he cockily smiled where she realized how silly her words might have been, "I mean that you thought he didn't need me and…"

"Oh he needed you then," he honestly looked at her, "He would have hated to have you there, but there wasn't a moment that he didn't think of you."

Maxie warmly smiled, "Well I appreciate this." She bent down to grab the bag of food from Kelly's, the barbeque chips that became cradled in her arm and then two bottles of orange soda.

Mickey saw her walk away in the corner of his eye as he became focused on the numbness in his hand, "He needs you now." He looked up at her where her expression gave away that she knew that, but he didn't think she fully understood.

"Damian Spinelli," he uttered as he walked towards her hopping the ice pack in his hand, "Is as cold as this ice." He stopped beside her, "Without you."

She pondered why he told her this. Wasn't any man cold without the woman they loved to warm their heart and vice versa?

"I might be the bad blonde one without him," she softly insisted, but her suggestion didn't seem to be the same to Mickey.

"Walk with me," he motioned down the hall for he did after all have to tell her where the room was Spinelli was staying in.

"Mickey, love brings out the best in people."

"And the worst," he looked up at her seriously, "And I believe very seriously that if he were to lose you like he almost believes he has, he will go down a path that is unrecognizable to you or me or to anyone that knows him."

"He won't, I won't let him."

"I hope that's true because you mix a man, as complicated as Damian, with alcohol and well…" He became speechless, "You won't like the results."

He left her to ponder his thoughts and entered Spinelli's room with the ice, "Aw you serious?" She heard Spinelli's playful whine.

Mickey nodded, "It will numb you until you can take some pills."

"But it'll make me all wet and then I'll have to get undressed…" Spinelli froze his smile when Maxie appeared in the doorway.

Mickey smirked, "And I'm sure she won't mind." He set the ice pack underneath his black dress shirt and on the actual skin of his shoulder.

Mickey eyed him at his bedside to say something so Spinelli slowly glanced up at her with a careless, "Hey."

"Hi," she softly smiled afraid that he might really not want her here.

"You two have fun," Mickey winked at both of them before leaving them in silence.

If it wasn't written all over her face, Spinelli could sense her vulnerability from the doorway. She stood with damp hair, runny makeup, regretful eyes, and teeth biting her lip. These were indications he knew to be that of his Maximista's sadness. Then there was the BBQ chips and the orange soda that gave it away as well. He found himself in a place no man wanted to be in because he couldn't look at her without wanting to cave in. So he didn't and it hurt her.

"You obviously don't want to see me so," she turned to the desk next to the doorway, "Um…" She whimpered but hated herself inside for giving away that emotion, "I didn't know what you wanted but I got you a burger or if you want grilled cheese there's that too…" She bravely looked at him and saw he still wasn't looking at her, "Uh…" And she did it again, whimpered.

"Maxie," he deeply sighed where he looked up at her saw tears in her eyes.

"No," she negatively nodded, "It's okay. I don't want you to feel bad or anything. I just um…" She paused rolling her eyes, "I don't know why I'm crying." She whimpered, "Probably hormones or something." She grasped the door handle, "Call me when you want to talk."

"Well," he deeply breathed as he felt himself caught in his own tears, "That's kind of a problem." He looked away from her where she followed his eye line to his cell phone on the very edge of his bed. As she realized he wanted to talk to her now he spoke up, "Stay."

"Stay?" She painfully looked at him hoping to god that's what he meant.

He nodded, "Stay."

She warmly smiled, "Spinelli," but when she motioned to walk from the door to embrace him he put his hand up in defense.

"I said you could stay," he honestly looked at her trying not to painfully hurt her by expressing that he could tolerate her presence, but certainly not her touch. She silently put her foot back in its position and nodded like it didn't hurt her for him to set a boundary. He could see it crushed her inside for him to say that, but what would she expect him to do? Act like last night didn't happen? That the things that were said meant nothing?

"Okay," she turned her back to him taking out the Styrofoam boxes where she felt a failure. She was here, but not. He was here, but not. They were stuck in a prison of emotions unable to really express what they wanted in fear of hurting the other more than they already had. It was only upon her turning away from him, did he at last cave in to his ways of torture. She hadn't even been in the room for more than two minutes and he couldn't find a reason to lock up the anger in his heart. Something about a woman's tears, her tears, her damn sweet tears strolling down her cheek of her innocent face, that got to him.

"What if…?" He paused waiting for her to look over her shoulder, "…you sat next to me?" He insisted, "And we didn't talk, but we shared that grilled cheese sandwich."

A little smile formed in the corners of her mouth and he knew that he had done the right thing because his heart filled with a type of warmth only she could spark.

"Would that be alright with you?" He finished asking and she nodded with that smile of hers growing like a flower blossoming. She sat right next to him and for twenty minutes they ate and drank in silence. It was perhaps the greatest idea Spinelli had that day because while their mouths never spoke in those twenty minutes, their expressions did. In between tossed French fries, their smiles turned into huffs and their huffs turned into laughter. That was the difference between their love and other peoples love. They knew when to fight and they knew when to forgive. Life was too short for anger and pain and bitterness and sadness. Georgie had been an example of that. Georgie smiled and huffed and laughed. She was always happy even in such an imperfect world she stood in it content. They stared at each other realizing Georgie would want smiles and huffs and laughter and by golly, for her sake, they were damn well going to give her that.

Next chapter: Spixie reconnect through Georgie.


	33. Things to Tell

Author's Note: Lots of cute things in this chapter. Georgie for one. Aw RIP. Anyway enjoy! Review! Next Chapter should be exciting so to speak.

Chapter 33

"Things to tell"

"Knock knock," Mickey opened the door with his hand covering his eyes, "Is it safe to look?"

"Yes," Spinelli chuckled while staring at Maxie whom he found himself getting lost in her charm. He looked away from her to Mickey, "Seriously we're not doing anything but laughing at how ridiculous you look standing there like you'll get cuddies if we were doing anything more than that."

Mickey hesitantly opened his eyes, "Very funny smart ass! I brought you some medicine and some water. I don't want you getting too much of that sugary junk into your system and calling yourself Mr. Jackal for the rest of the day."

"But I am, I am the ace of cyberspace," Spinelli smirked as Mickey walked over to him.

"Yeah yeah," he gave Spinelli the two pills, "But he still hasn't fixed my DVD player yet," Mickey spoke to Maxie in a sarcastic annoyed tone.

"Well I would," Spinelli stressed the attention back on him, "If you had something to watch on DVD."

"I do!" Mickey walked to the TV where he pulled out a DVD from a bag lying next to it "See!"

"Aww yes that is the Karate kid."

"Uh yeah, I figured you call me that Mr. Myagi fellow enough that I should really do an in depth character study to see if I fit such a role."

"Oh I promise you do," Spinelli insistently nodded, "I often remember you uttering the phrase wax on, wax off."

"Maybe," Mickey shrugged his shoulders, "Anyway I think you should watch it and do my homework for me."

"OH you do?" Spinelli laughed.

"Why yes unless that blonde tart next to you has to go somewhere, I think you two should sit and watch it, compare notes and then tell me what you think."

Spinelli glanced at her, "Should we take the challenge?"

"I most certainly think so," she played along but wasn't quite sure if he really meant it.

"Spectacular!" Mickey smiled, "Take those pills…with the water and I'll check up on you soon."

"Hey Mickey?" Spinelli kindly raised his voice as Mickey stood in the doorway, "There's a cheese burger there, if you'd like it."

"I think I will," Mickey took the white box, "You two enjoy yourselves." He closed the door and Spinelli turned to Maxie, "Have you ever seen the Karate Kid?"

"No," she nodded and he looked at her surprised, "Dillon never made you and Georgie watch it?"

"I'm sure Georgie saw it, but I was always to busy with the guy of the moment to ever allow myself to spend time with her like that," Maxie somberly said, but with a smile for she had accepted the fact that she wasn't the sister she should have been.

Spinelli disappointedly looked at her, "I thought we decided you weren't going to put yourself down like that."

Maxie slowly nodded, "I know. I was just being honest."

"I don't believe that. Even if you weren't there for the small stuff, I'm sure you were there when it really mattered."

"I like to hope that I was," she shrugged her shoulders with doubt.

"I bet you were," he smiled optimistically before moving away from her to get off the bed. She wondered why he left her side so quickly just as they might have been leaning in for a kiss. Was it too much still to be around her? No, it couldn't have been that. The silent lunch had proved that two people who really loved each other didn't have to use words to express how much they deeply cared for one another. The answer to her question came to her when he took the ice patch on his shoulder and tossed it to the ground. He glanced down at her, "I bet you were there when she got her first straight A report card." He smirked where she rolled her eyes like she definitely had been there for that. Georgie even tried not to shine so much in the spot light so that Mac would be less harder on her who had received straight C's. "I bet you were there when she got her first kiss." He turned to the nightstand while she remembered standing in the doorway of Kelly's with Lucas wondering who her sister was kissing by that telephone. Spinelli grabbed his bottle of orange soda, "And I bet you were most certainly there for her when she suffered that really bad concussion that put her in the same hospital bed next to you." He insisted before popping the pills in his mouth and took a sip of orange soda to wash them down.

Maxie saw the disgusted taste on his face and giggled, "You should have took those with water."

"Uh yeah," he nodded thinking of how stupid that was but took another sip of the orange soda, "But back to what I was saying." He put the bottle down, "And…" He cleared his throat, "I'm very much willing to take a bet that you were there for her when she got married and not just at the 'I do's'." He playfully pointed at her as he back treaded to the TV, "But someone had to convince your…" He paused with a playful grunt, "Over protective and," he humorously pointed to his shoulder, "Very strong father." He smirked where she worryingly looked at him, but he smiled showing her that he was indeed okay. His eyes that stared at her with a gracious smile reverted back to a much simpler expression where he got back to his point, "That they should be joined together in holy matrimony. That was a very big sister thing to do." He turned away to begin tinkering with the DVD player.

She disbelievingly looked at him as he looked at the wires connected to the DVD player and the TV. How did he know so much, so much about everything?

He looked at the face of the DVD player, "In fact I bet Maxie, you were there for her when she bought her prom dress and when she graduated and when she got accepted to college." His face grew intense as he found a lose wire, "I bet you were there for every heart break she ever had and were there when her divorce was final." He saw the wire was not plugged into the wall therefore no electricity to power the DVD player.

"Spinelli," she speechlessly paused wondering how he knew moments she never conveyed to him, "How, how do you know all this?"

He got off his knees with the wire in his hand and after he plugged it in, he turned to her. He saw her eyes, wet such emotion, and smiled so very preciously at her, "She told me."

"She did?" She shockingly looked at him surprised that Georgie talked of her so much that he knew their intimate moments.

He nodded before turning the DVD player on, "Sometimes I think I loved you before I really met you."

"No you don't, you don't think that." It was a magical compliment, but it could never be true, he detested her. _Bad blonde one, remember Spinelli?_

Spinelli looked away from her to the DVD, "She thought you were wonderful Maxie."

"Yeah right."

Spinelli stood quiet, looking at something in the distance as his mind flashed through his memories of Georgie, "She thought you were the bravest person she ever knew." He glanced up at her, "She really did." He froze his smile as his hand took the DVD out and placed it in the player, "She'll fight for you, she told me. She'll fight everyone and everything until she gets what she wants." He slightly huffed knowing the very truth of that statement. He turned the TV on and grabbed the remote and then turned to her in a finality sort of way to conclude how a part of him fell in love with Maxie Jones.

"Despite all your shenanigans, you had guts. They might have been horrible ideas and be bad execution plans, but you didn't sit back and wait for your life to happen. You were a doer and Fair…" He choked, "And Georgie was a watcher, who watched you from behind her apron at Kelly's, and told me how much she admired you." Spinelli walked to the bed never once taking his eyes off her. He threw his sling that his arm hung in, to the floor and sat beside her, "She told me every story there was to tell of you…" He paused touching her blonde strands and twirling it in his finger. "Before I knew it, in a non-stalkerish kind of way in which I still thought you were the bad blonde one, I began to admire you from my computer." His hand with her curls in it came to cup her cheek. He felt a pressure, an eagerness to kiss her, but when he looked into her eyes, when he really looked at them, he felt numb. He was a watcher and unlucky for him, she was a doer.

"Spinelli," she touched his hand to keep it right where it was. She searched his eyes for an opening, for his whole speech about what a great person she is to mean something, but all she found was a closing. She felt his hand slip from hers, his eyes heavily look away and his face turning. Suddenly she was cupping his most distant, but tender bruised cheek just to hold onto him.

"Max," he clenched his jaw before slightly closing his eyes at the touch that he wanted to refuse so very much.

_You're not the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with!_

"Come on," he cleared his throat where as he motioned to touch her hand on his cheek he felt her lips kiss the other.

_Because god knows I'm not gonna miss this and neither is this child I'm not having!_

Her hand fell from his farthest cheek and wrapped around his neck while her soft lips transcended down his neck, "I didn't mean it."

_It's not gonna happen!_

He took her hand off his neck where she pulled away from kissing his chest to see what he was going to say.

"You hurt me," he began without looking her straight in the face for he really didn't want her to see how much her rejection did in fact lower his confidence, "You really did."

"I'm so-rry," she said to him with an annoyance that he was staring at the TV rather than at her, "Look at me!" She whined pulling his attention to her where he interjected kindly, "Let's just watch the movie okay?"

She disappointedly looked at him especially as he turned his attention back to the TV, "Spinelli I…"

"I," he sounded over while still staring at the DVD menu, "Will not be made a fool again Maxie." He simply said where she looked away confused as to what he meant. In what way did he look like a fool? If anything they looked like fools together, fools in love, but in the tone of his voice that wasn't what he meant. What he meant was a complex in pride, ego and reputation. His pride was hurt that evening. To be on cloud 9 to six feet under was, but a heartbreak. To have his sacrifices disrespected, to have no support, to have complete and utter rejection for the person he was trying to become for her and their family was a shot to his ego. More importantly it was an embarrassment to his reputation. To at last live up to what the status quo in Port Charles was. If he wasn't a handsome doctor or a clean-cut right side of the law man, he was no good for Maxie Jones. Suddenly Port Charles had become Oakfield. If he wasn't captain of the football team then he was no good for the girl on the cheerleading squad. That was the true consequence of the evening. His purpose in life had become clearer then. Maybe all he would be good for is to serve Jason Morgan, the only person he could be a social misfit with. Morgan tolerated him, believed in him, respected him and maybe in some shape or form loved him like a friend, like a brother, like the son he was never allowed to raise. It was better to be a fool in love than a fool who thought he was in love and up until she spoke those words, he thought it was the real thing. Maybe he still did or maybe he didn't. Time would tell and in this very time at this very hour, minute and second, he wanted to sit in silence with her.

She glanced over her shoulder at him wondering if she should just leave, but he took her hand and delicately kissed the palm. He gently placed her hand on his chest and with almost no emotion, but pure tiredness of arguing with his mind over what to do, he weakly uttered, "Come here Maximista."

There was this famous quote she heard Georgie talk of from time to time whenever Dillon tried to make up with her. It was probably the only quote from any movie she'd ever remember, but it was about two people who loved each other so much that expressing an apology wasn't needed. The two people could just look at each other and know they were sorry. As Spinelli looked at her with true conflict in his face, she realized that perhaps he didn't want to talk about last night because there was nothing to talk about.

"Please," he looked at her in desperation.

Maybe from the second he saw her standing in the doorway, maybe he realized she didn't have to be sorry. Maybe the reason he didn't want to kiss her or feel such an intimate touch by her was because he felt like he owed her the apology. Maybe he realized his life and his decisions had made a future impossible for them. Maybe he felt it was his fault and if all that were the case, she couldn't let him believe that. She warmly smiled at him and then lied down to rest her head on his chest. She couldn't let him blame himself. She couldn't let him feel guilty. She couldn't let him feel anything but her forgiveness. That was why she stayed because _love means never having to say you're sorry._ The movie started and the ice broke again. They smiled, they huffed, and they laughed. When she felt content in the heat she felt brewing between them, she traced a heart on his chest.

"I saw Dr. Lee today," she paused wondering if he was going to say something, but all he did was take his eyes off the TV and become lost in the shape she drew.

"When you left, I got really bad cramps," she went silent again although this time it was because his touch grew tender. His arm wrapped around her like a hug while his face was preparing itself.

"We almost couldn't find her," she stopped tracing her love into his skin and rest her hand about his heart, "I got so scared."

His eyes dreadfully closed while his mind scowled him. His throat tightened as his ashamed tears leaked into his esophagus rather than a place she could see them. The salt burned his lungs and became responsible for the little rhythm in his heart.

"I…" She stopped when she felt his heartbeats go faint. She motioned to look up at him when she saw the muscles in his right arm, stressed. She looked down yonder and saw his struggle to contain his frustration in a fist.

Hearing her become a loss for words drew him from self-pity to her, "Was um..." He began to ask with his eyes still closed, "Were you…?" He stumbled over his words again trying to ask if she had been alone, but became annoyed in his inability to get himself together to do so. "I mean was Robin or Lulu or…" He held his breath wondering why the painful sting in his arm stopped. He slowly opened his eyes to see it had stopped because her hand was in his. She calmed his fears by grabbing his shaking hand and interlacing her fingers with his.

"I was so afraid Spinelli," she softly whined, "I don't know how I did it without you."

He embraced her in a tighter hug where he kissed her blonde head, "Your brave that's how you did it."

"No," she pouted. "I kept thinking how I was going to tell you I lost our little gi-rl," she whimpered where he soothingly rubbed his hand in a circular motion along her back.

"Shhh, the important thing is that you're okay." He looked down at her before pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes, "You two are okay right?"

She looked up at him nodding, "Yeah" before hugging him tightly.

"Ah," he slightly ached and she quickly leaned away wiping a few tears, "I'm sorry."

"No," he honestly looked at her with a genuine smile, "I am. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"Sorry enough to let me kiss you?" She sniffled with a whimper.

"Ye-ah," he hopelessly nodded, "get over HERE." He smiled and she excitedly leaned in straddling his legs. She felt his arms lovingly wrap around her and joyously cupped his cheeks to plant a smooch on his lips followed by soft moist kisses on his cheeks.

"Maxie," he chuckled as her lips escaped down his neck, "Maximista," he stiffly grunted as he felt her tongue snake out, "I said one…" He smirked uncontrollably, "Not fifty."

She felt his hands trying to remove hers around his neck, "Okay," she said before sneaking in a few more up his neck, "Okay!" She laughed while hiccupping her tears, "I just…" She happily sighed as her hands lied on his chest, "I just missed you."

He softly chuckled, "I can tell."

"It's not funny," she softly nodded a humorous whine.

"I know," he softly smiled, "but all I can handle," he raised his hand to cup her cheek, "At the moment…" His thumb wiped away her tears, "Is one." He honestly looked before slowly pulling her into one everlasting passionate kiss that left him in tears of hurt, as it became more than just one kiss.

_No_, he told his conscience, _I can't,_ and like that he pulled out of the kiss leaving her wanting more and leaving him more confused than ever. He leaned his cheek against hers telling his mind to stay strong because it wasn't so easy as she wanted to make it. Kisses and apologies couldn't make up for last night in which he still felt she spoke the truth underneath it all.

"Spin," she whispered with her eyes closed. She cupped his cheek that wasn't against hers, "What is it?" She delicately kissed his cheek, "Tell me."

"I'm just tired," he leaned away from her opening his eyes where she could tell he was lying.

"Are you sure?" She raised her hand beginning to play with his hair, "You cut all your hair. I can't play with it." When she glanced into his eyes with a smirk she then began to see he had done that on purpose.

"Haha," he pretended to laugh, "Mickey needed to clear the forehead for the bandage."

She amusingly huffed, "I see."

He smiled back at her trying not to give the illusion that something was wrong, "Let's finish watching Mr. Myagi and the karate kid, shall we?"

"Okay," she returned the same goofy smile.

"Okay," he smirked, "Here lie down," he patted his chest and she turned her back to him before lying down on him. He wrapped his arms around her before softly kissing her neck, "comfortable?"

"Very," she interlaced her fingers with his, kissed them and then lovingly placed them over the baby. Gently rubbing their hands together over her abdomen, she rested her cheek against his warm chest and then glanced up at him with a bright smile. For the sake of her health and the baby he happily smiled back without a fuss. He could see she was tired and didn't blame her. Yesterday and today had been filled with drama that should have never occurred in the first place, but they did because of him, "You just relax."

"Coming from the guy who almost bled to death," she amused like if anything he needed to rest.

"Yeah well, you've got a little person inside you," he playfully poked before moving his hands to her arms and slowly moved them up and down, "Who needs you to calmly relax." He squeezed her arms before moving to her shoulders where he yawned, "And…"

"Sounds like someone needs a nap?" She chuckled where he nodded no.

"I'm fine," he began massaging her shoulders.

"Spin," she softly whined afraid that such movement was hurting his shoulder.

"Watch the movie," he whispered into her ear, "The Jackal will take care of the rest." He told her in his usual soothing voice only to her it was so much more calming to hear him talk as the jackal.

"Just relax Maximista," she heard as he worked all the muscles in her slowly aching back. It was funny to him because while he still was unsure of how to interpret the event of her coming over and being apologetic, he sometimes really didn't care to question anymore if it was genuine. He could see the enjoyment she received out of a simple massage. It was that enjoyment that allowed him to let his guard down.

"This is the best part," he whispered before wrapping his arms around her.

"That was wonderful thank you."

"Anything for you," he hugged her tightly before kissing her cheek, "Anything."

"I love you," she softly uttered while squeezing his hands.

They weren't the words he expected to come out of her mouth. Not so soon. He wondered why they couldn't just be in this moment and forget all the heavy stuff like love. Love was gone last night and he wasn't sure if it was here now. They needed each other. That was for sure and that would perhaps never change, but he couldn't just start again like nothing happened. This moment needed to remind him of why he cared for her and why he adored her and why she was the girl he would do "anything" for. Their fight, as upsetting and out of context it might have been yesterday, was still something lingering in his mind. It could not easily be forgotten because she was afraid today or because she said 'I love you'. If he wasn't concerned for her well being, he might have told her these things, but for the time being, he acted like their wounds had been healed.

"Ye-ah, I love you too," he hugged her tightly before lying his head back down on the pillow where he told himself he'd only close his eyes for a minute.

"Don't tell me who wins," Maxie uttered almost an hour later as the film was wrapping up, "Actually tell me…"

"Just waaaaaaatch," Spinelli yawned while tightly holding her having no idea where the movie was at or what she really just said.

"Okay!" She grunted, "I hope Danny wins, he deserves to win, not like that jerk, what's his face. Spinelli we should take karate together, even though those robes totally aren't fashionable, I think it would be a great thing for us to do either before or after, well hmm we might be bust when the baby comes so before I guess..."

"Maximista," he squeezed her.

"Okay sorry," she went quiet and watch the very end where even in his light sleep he could feel in his tightly squeezed hand, how excited she was.

_Hey Mr. Myagi we did it! We did it! Woohoo!_

"Ha, I was right!"

"That you were Maxi…" He dozed off.

"Spinelli?" She slowly turned to him where he softly uttered, "The Jackal is just going to…"

She silently chuckled to herself thinking how adorable he looked completely exhausted, "You go right ahead Mr. Jackal…"

He tightly squeezed her hand over the baby and rolled them on their sides towards the inner side of the bed, "Spinelli..." She giggled.

"Stay for a little bit longer…" He dazedly uttered before kissing her neck, "I just want to hold you."

How could she refuse him then? Really? How could she tell him no when she felt just as fatigued? "You're lucky I'm tired," she put her hand on his.

"That's what I thought," he held her closer to him where she could almost feel his smile in the corner of his mouth. He happily sighed before freeing himself home, home to her, her warmth, her embrace, and her orange scented smell. He felt so relaxed that when she woke up hours later, he didn't even know. His mind was lost in her and she could tell when she softly gazed at him from his bedside.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered before kissing his cheek and letting herself out the room. She walked into the living room where she saw her purse and instantly remembered the photo she was going to show him. Just then Mickey walked from the garage surprised to see she was still here, "I take it things went well?"

She nodded with a very pleased smile, "Yeah."

"That's nice. You told him everything you needed to?"

"Sort of. Um, do you have some paper? I forgot to give him this photo and I'd give it to him now, but he's sleeping, I just want to write him a little note."

"Yeah right over there," he pointed to the desk, "Help yourself."

"Thanks," she walked over to the desk with her purse and took out the sonogram.

Mickey watched as she thoughtfully wrote a note and then turned to open the fridge so it seemed like he wasn't staring at her.

She folded the note in half, tucking in the photo and then looked over her shoulder, "Mick?"

"Yeah?" He grabbed a beer and then turned to her.

She walked over to him slightly hesitant, "If it's not to much trouble could you…"

"Give this to him?" He finished her sentence and she nodded, "Sure why not."

"Thanks!" She kissed him on the cheek, "That means a lot and don't worry about paying me back for the food at Kelly's. You've been beyond a great umm…"

"Ms. Jones," he smirked, "I think you better clear out before the rain comes back."

"Right," she shrugged her shoulders feeling like there was something else she needed to do or say.

"Goodbye Ms. Jones."

"Right, bye!" And like that she left, hoping he'd return to her sooner rather than later.

Mickey humorously nodded negatively at the girl's excitement that she brought with her everywhere she went and then set the note on the counter. He didn't bother reading it for he knew based on the look of her face what the note entailed. Taking the cap off his beer he walked back into the garage and continued tinkering around with the cars in there until a favorite song of his came on the radio.

"Everybody's working for the weekend," he sang along as he turned up the volume, "Everybody wants a little romance…" He twisted his hips, "Everybody's goin' off the deep end!"

Spinelli quickly woke from his bed where he heard the muffled lyrics, "Everybody needs a second chance, oh!" He shook his head wondering what was going on around him until his mind was hit with a flash of images of his Maximista.

"Maxie," he whispered where he realized she wasn't where he last saw her, "Maxie?!" When he didn't hear response he confusingly turned to his nightstand where he saw it was 7:20. He scratched his head, trying to wake up, but all he kept hearing was that damn song being blasted.

"ARG!" He grunted getting up from the bed and bursting into the garage, "HEY!"

"OH GOOD!" Mickey shouted with a grin, "YOU'RE UP!"

"WHAT?" Spinelli looked at him senseless.

"HOW WAS YOU'RE NAP!"

"DO I HAVE A BASEBALL BAT?!" Spinelli repeated back, but saw Mickey's smirk like that was not the question he asked. Mickey walked back to the radio and turned it down, "Glad that you're UP."

Spinelli laughed, "You didn't ask about a baseball bat did you?"

"No," Mickey chuckled, "How are you?"

"Rested," Spinelli put his hands on his hips.

"Good," Mickey leaned against Spinelli's Aston Martin, "and the shoulder?"

"Not so bad," Spinelli smiled optimistically, "Barely hurts."

"Because of the medicine or her?" Mickey smirked before polishing the front hood with his pink rag.

"Um I don't know," Spinelli walked over to him, "Medicine is good and she was…surprisingly good company."

"Surprisingly?" Mickey glanced up, "Come on. A hot chick like that comes to you in tears and she's just 'good' company?"

"It's complicated Mick," Spinelli crossed his arms, "As complicated as you're making this car deal."

Mickey huffed amused where he leaned back against the car, "Why would you want any of these puppies when you've got this kitten?"

Spinelli laughed sliding his hands into his pocket before shrugging his shoulder, "I don't know. I guess it all doesn't fit me you know?"

"How do you mean?" Mickey crossed his arms.

"Well, don't tell anyone this Mick, but sometimes, sometimes I feel like I'm two people."

"Come again?"

"Okay, it's like, here," he walked to the Aston Martin, "See this car, its sleek and dark and mysteriously perfect. It makes a statement wherever it's at saying 'I'm the best'. It shows off being damn proud to be the most powerful in the parking lot." Spinelli looked up at him to see if he was following, "Then you've got the Camaro." He walked over to it, "Now this makes a completely different statement, 'I'm old school, I many not be the fastest or the newest, but I'm wise.' It's friendly because it doesn't look like a car that's gonna race you, beat you and be happy about it. White is a surrendering color. It doesn't want to be bad, wants to be good and clean with the best of intentions. Orange is goofy, quirky, knows it's probably going to be laughed at, but doesn't care because at the end of the day it's a more honest reflection of itself than black: menacing, mean, a bad guy."

"Well I'll be damned." Mickey stood there wondering where in the hell that speech came from. It sure did sound like the Spinelli he met the first day, who spoke utter gibberish, but underneath it all had made some very educated statement.

"What?" Spinelli smirked almost shy that what he had said was in some way wrong.

"Spinelli, you're back."

"The Jackal wasn't aware he went somewhere," Spinelli chuckled.

_Exactly my point_, Mickey smiled, "So let me see if I get this right. The Aston Martin resembles a side of you that you're not exactly comfortable to be in because in the inside your Camaro at heart?"

Spinelli slowly nodded, "Sometimes the Jackal get these ideas Mick, when he's angry. It's like he…can't control himself."

"We talking like Dr. Haeckel and Mr. Hyde, kind of transformation?"

"I don't think I'd ever hurt anyone, not like when I was in my recovery, like when I lost it and hit her, but it's like a curiosity to see what else is out there if I can't have family and kids and the white picket fence."

"Hmm, the other road?" Mickey pondered as he threw the rag down.

"Yeah, before Port Charles before I left Oakfield. I had this dream to be rich, successful and powerful. To be somebody, somebody who could go to parties and everyone stops what they do to see my entrance, the kind of somebody who everyone wants to be connected to. LIVE life…where I might have a shitty marriage, but damn it, she stays married to me because I'm Damian Fucking Spinelli."

Mickey eyed him with an admiring smirk, "Is this where you see your life going if that Jones girl doesn't want to be with you?"

Spinelli slowly nodded, "I'd be the Martin and have a lot of fun, but something about it wouldn't seem right."

"You know there are people who have both, his name is Jasper Jacks I believe."

Spinelli laughed, "I know I work for him now, but that's not the kind of figure I want to be in society. No, the jackal wants power, he wants to walk into a room and people know to shut their mouths or he'll make them."

"Eh," Mickey carefully eyed him "That is a tricky road grasshopper."

"Why?" Spinelli eyed him back.

Mickey thought about it for a bit, "I think I know what you mean and I don't doubt that you could get there, you've made the connections with Mr. Morgan and Mr. Corinthos, you did the impossible against three fairly well trained assassins, you're a brilliant man…" Mickey walked towards him so his next words could be taken more seriously up close.

"The list goes on in your qualifications Damian, you could be a leader, but with every leader comes a downfall and thus self destruction." Mickey glanced up at him, "I don't need to explain how the greatest leaders fell to their demise do I?"

Spinelli confusingly looked at him, "Alexander was too greedy, Caesar let his guard down, Hitler well he was manipulative and inhumane. I think I can find a balance between those, don't take too much, don't open yourself up and don't be cruel."

Mickey amusingly huffed in his arrogance, "Your biggest weakness kid is your heart." Mickey pointed directly to it, "And if you were to travel this road because the American Dream with Ms. Jones didn't work out, it would put you in the grave."

"What kind of thing is that to say Mickey?" Spinelli walked away from him before turning to him, "Huh? I mean am I not supposed to be happy?"

"No, you are, but you my boy are like Sonny Corinthos. Your heart is attacked, you become devastated and you make bad judgments."

"I'm not like Corinthos," Spinelli walked towards the garage door to the house, "And for your information, I can be really good at keeping myself closed off from people."

"Not when your drunk," Mickey glared at him and Spinelli glared back unamused, "Then I won't get drunk."

Mickey chuckled, "Yeah we'll see how that goes."

"Mickey!" Spinelli quickly turned to him, "What is it you're saying?"

"I'm saying," Mickey walked towards his a rack where keys were sitting on, "I don't want to see you become that miserable ruthless businessman who ruins himself over a woman." He grabbed the keys to the Camaro and grabbed Spinelli's hand, "It's yours. Go be that Spinelli kid who walked into my gym whom I couldn't understand a word you said." He put the keys in his hand where he saw him get way too excited, "But let me give you a piece of advice. Take pride in yourself okay? You don't need a woman to feel complete and if she decides she doesn't want you. Screw her because you're a fine man and if you want to damn well get yourself killed being the greatest criminal to ever walk these streets, you come get your car back."

Spinelli grinned at him unbelievably, "Thanks."

"Yeah well I never had a grandson, so I guess you're like the closest thing. But I meant what I said. Don't ruin yourself over a woman, don't become a drunk, don't become pathetic." Mickey closed Spinelli's hand with the keys into a fist, "You stand strong and take it like a man. You feel sorry for yourself for one day and then you say to hell with her and go find yourself a new broad."

"I will if Maximista doesn't desire the Jackal."

"Good, now go read that note she left you on the kitchen counter," he smirked and Spinelli looked at him surprised.

"Yeah, I think Maximis-ta, kid why do you have such a weird name for her?"

"It's not a weird name it's a special name, given to girls who are the one."

"One," he laughed in disbelief, "Well yeah I think she wants you very much. Now leave me in peace to say goodbye to a good piece of machinery." Mickey gazed at his Camaro.

"Thanks, Mr. Myagi!" Spinelli jet from the garage hearing Mickey curse the name. Spinelli laughed to himself where he saw the folded note addressed to _Mr. Jackal_.

Spinelli set the keys on the down and then took the note in his hands. Leaning his elbows on the counter he opened the note to see the much more detailed picture of his prodigy to be. He gazed at it in aw, still thinking how cool it was that he was going to be a dad. Even if he wasn't ready, so what? He softly smiled like he would figure it out like all the other dads on earth. He moved the photo away from the note and began to read the words that would convince him she was in it for the long hall.

_Hey papa! _

_I didn't want to wake you. Here's a little something to remind you that I'm still in it if you are. I love you. _

_Forever and Always,_

_Maximista_

He was most definitely still in it if she was and now that she was, he decided it was time to give Tiffany Jewelers a phone call.

* * *

Next Chapter: The proposal that was a means to an end. Special Guest return: Dillon. REVIEW! Thanks!


	34. Never Gonna Give You Up

Author's Note: Aw sweet chapter! Please review, it'll help me figure out which ending I need to build towards so just let me know what ur thinking! Thanks!

Chapter 34

"Never gonna give you up"

Sitting in the Scorpio living room, Maxie somberly looked at the TV wondering why she hadn't seen or heard from Spinelli since the day she saw him. It was four days to be exact, four lonely miserable days of no communication at all from him. She was beginning to worry. Even though it was against doctor's orders to let anything with him bother her, how could she not? He was the father of her child and the man she believed to love, she needed him to be there for her in all of this. If he wasn't, no, she couldn't contemplate that idea. He wanted this. He wanted it before she knew she wanted it. But, she ended up contemplating the idea, if he didn't, if he decided he didn't want this then she could do it by herself. She'd hate it, but she'd do it. She had Robin, Mac, Patrick and now Alexis; her family and she had her friends; Lulu and Johnny and every once in awhile on a blue moon Elizabeth Webber. Yeah she was brave, he told her, she could do it without him.

"Hello hello hello!" Patrick's voice rang through the house.

"Patrick?" Robin shouted from the kitchen.

"Yeeessss!" He walked into the living room where Maxie looked over her shoulder to see Patrick holding flowers behind his back.

"Just a sec!" Robin shouted and Patrick back treaded to the couch where leaned on the back of it, "Hey Maxie."

Maxie looked up at him, "So what's the occasion?"

"No occasion," he smirked, "Can't a guy bring his…" He paused as Robin entered the room, "beautiful pregnant girlfriend flowers?" He held them up and Robin sweetly smiled with tears in her eyes, "Aw Patrick…Now my makeup is going to run why do you have to be so sweet all the time!"

Patrick gazed down at her having now idea how to respond in fear that he might get yelled at.

"Well it could be worse!" Maxie sarcastically shouted looking over at her, "He could just not call you and leave you wondering if he cares at all."

Robin knew that statement was all about Spinelli, "Thanks Patrick." She kissed him appreciatively, "I'll go put these away." She walked into the kitchen and Patrick looked back at Maxie who was staring back at the TV.

"How are you doing?" He asked before joining her on the couch.

"Alright," Maxie frowned, "I'm doing okay."

Patrick slowly nodded, "I saw him today."

"You did?" She quickly looked at him.

"He came in to do his usual tests, we talked."

"Talked about?"

"Oh how the brain works and how to hack computers! We talked about you of course!" He joked gently touching her shoulder in support, "Give him some time."

"Time!" She complained, "It's been four days."

"He's recovering! He doesn't want to see you until he's all better so he doesn't worry you!"

"Did he tell you that?"

"No."

"Well then you don't know why he's staying away from me."

"Maxie," Patrick sighed in objection until he heard the front door open and close.

"Anyone home?" Mac's voice hollered.

"In here," Patrick shouted and Maxie darted devil eyes his way.

"Wha…" Patrick quietly sighed where Maxie didn't have time to explain because Mac walked in, "Hello, how are you two doing?"

"Good," Patrick looked away from Maxie, "Just about to go out with Robin. How are you?"

"I'm just about to go out myself, just wanted to check on the construction," he glanced up at the stairs, "Looks like they finished it."

"Good eyes Sherlock," Maxie angrily eyed the TV.

Mac looked over his shoulder, "Maxie."

"Okay!" Robin excitedly shouted as she entered the room again, "You ready to go, oh hey Uncle Mac!"

"Hey!" Mac hugged her, "How's my beautiful niece doing?"

"Good and you?" She cheerfully smiled hoping to see progress between he and Maxie.

"Going to dinner," he excitedly smirked.

"Ohh hot date?" Robin winked knowing full well who his hot date was.

"Sure," he nervously looked away where he saw the time, "Crap I'm late."

"Well good luck," Robin wished before looking at Maxie, "Don't we wish Mac well Max?"

"Have fun!" Maxie waved her hand non-amusingly.

Robin looked up at Mac who was relatively disappointed, "We should be going to Patrick."

"Ready when you are," Patrick charmingly smiled, "Do you want to come Maxie?"

"Yeah you're more than welcomed to," Robin offered thinking it would be good if she got out of the house.

"Thanks, but," Maxie looked over her shoulder to make sure Mac heard her loud and clear, "Lulu and Johnny are coming over."

"The fugitives?"

"Yeah dad the fugitives are coming over," she sarcastically threw at him before looking back at the TV.

Robin looked up at Mac, "Come on lets go." She patted Mac on the back, escorting him to the front door, "So what base are you at with Alexis?"

Maxie humorously giggled hearing her cousin's question, "Patrick I'll be fine." She looked at up him who was frowning at her, "He just wants you to be happy Maxie."

"No," she annoyingly whined, "He wants me to dump Spinelli or not have the baby at all."

"Maxie," Patrick honestly looked at her, "I think he just wants you to do what's right for you." Patrick supportively touched her shoulder, "You're young, you've got you're whole life to have kids and get married. Spinelli isn't exactly the same guy he was before the surgery or even before he was shot. Your career is demanding, his is…is what it is. No one is going to judge you if you get an abortion."

Maxie rolled her eyes wishing the topic could be dropped. No one, but Spinelli knew that she still wanted to keep the baby. She didn't know why she kept such information to herself and why she only told Robin, Mac, and everyone that asked that she and the baby were just fine. They could know, she pondered until the second she was about to tell him something held her back.

"The only thing I ask of you Maxie," Patrick thought hard about what he was going to say, "Is that you consider Spinelli and his feelings about all this." He thought to when Robin did a helluva job in that when she didn't tell him he was the father at the very start. "I never wanted to be a father and I have no idea if I'm going to be good at this, but I'm willing to give it my best shot and I know Spinelli would too if you'd let him." He honestly looked up at her, "Just keep that in mind when you're considering things."

"Of course," she softly smiled.

"Thanks," he gave her a hug, "Take it easy."

"You better go see Robin."

"Ah yes," he got up from the couch, "You want anything from the Metro Court? Any chocolate cake?"

"No….I really shouldn't," she honestly looked at him knowing she had depressed herself with ice cream last night.

"You're allowed to splurge," he smirked, "Just…use the baby as an excuse. Come on is there a craving you're just dying to have?" He asked as he backed away from the couch with his hand in his pockets trying to be charming.

"Well…"

"Come on…" He teased.

"Ah okay!" She excitedly laughed, "Only if Robin order's something! Okay!" She insistently pointed at him and he nodded like Robin most definitely would. "Then a slice of chocolate mousse cake would be great, thanks."

"No problem," he nodded delightfully, "See was that so hard to ask?" He chuckled while looking at her senseless.

She non-amusingly glared at him as Robin has, "Go before I realize I don't want the calories," she insisted where he took the hint. He turned his back to her seeing Robin and Mac standing near the front door, "Good night Maxie."

"Goodnight!" Maxie annoyingly shouted back to where Robin and Mac gave Patrick amusingly glares for just trying to talk to her.

"Hey I got her to let us bring her back some cake?" Patrick shrugged his shoulders with a small smile.

"Well it was worth a shot," Mac disappointedly frowned as his hand opened the door.

"Thanks Patrick," Robin wrapped her around his waist as they walked through the door first and then Mac who closed the door behind.

"Well you two have a…" Mac suddenly stopped his goodbye as he saw a u-haul moving truck parked in front of his house, "HEY!" Mac shouted, "YOU CAN'T PARK THERE!" He rushed down the steps leaving Patrick and Robin exchanging looks.

Maxie leaned back at the couch sighing once she heard the door close. She wasn't sure if it was the chocolate cake that made her unhappy because of it's devilish calories or if something else was beginning to bother her like it once had. Suddenly things seemed a little different. Her confidence was dwindling and she was beginning to fall back in that unsure territory. "What am I going to do with you?" she glanced down at her abdomen where she rested her hands over the baby, "Huh?" But before she could even begin to answer her question, she heard a ruckus out front.

"Uncle Mac!" Robin shouted as she and Patrick walked over to him, hoping to calm him down.

"Do you know who I am!" Mac shouted at the moving man, "Huh? You can't just park a truck here when nothing is being delivered to my house."

"Well this is 1020 right?"

"Yes, but…"

"But I have a paper here saying that a couch from Jason Morgan's apartment is to be delivered here at 1020 North Yale to Ms. Maxie Jones."

Mac quissitvely looked at Robin, "Why would Morgan's couch be coming here?"

Patrick looked just as clueless, but Robin on the other hand was forming a little smirk, "Uncle Mac, let's leave this alone."

"What why?" Mac confusingly whined as Robin gently grabbed his arm and walked him to the driveway where their cars were parked.

The moving guy looked up at Patrick, "So do I got permission or not?"

"Was this issued by Damian Spinelli?"

"Uh," the guy looked at his clip board looking through some papers, "Oh yup. He told me to give…" He opened the car door and reached into the passenger seat, "This blue box and envelope."

Patrick brightly smiled, "Then yes, you've got permission."

The moving guy smiled and then looked at his men waiting in the back, "Okay unload it."

Maxie lowered the volume of the TV as she heard the running engine of a truck nearby, but it was the sound of a garage chained door opening up that made her mute it and the sound of men shouting that encouraged her to leave the living room.

"Robin, I can not have a couch in my front yard," Mac glared at her who was just wickedly smiling next to Patrick beside their cars in the driveway.

"Oh Uncle Mac, must you always be a poop!" Robin playfully hit him where he non-amusingly looked at her, "I just don't understand why Jason would think Maxie would want a couch! I mean…"

"Hey Mac," Patrick interrupted him, "Women are very sensitive when it comes to couches."

"Hey!" Robin playfully poked him.

"Well they are," Patrick insisted before giggling until the moving guy jogged over to them.

"Is Ms. Jones home?"

"Yup," Robin smiled even happier as Maxie opened the door, "She's standing right on the porch."

The moving guy looked up, "Great thanks." He smiled before jogging up to the porch, "Ms. Jones?" She wasn't sure what was more confusing, a couch in her front yard or the fact that this couch was the one from Jason's apartment.

"Maxie Jones?" He repeated seeing the woman was obviously lost in the presence of the furniture, "I've got a couch here from Jason Morgan said to be delivered to a Ms. Maxie Jones, is that you?"

She snapped out of her puzzlement quickly, "Yes, I'm Maxie Jones."

"Great, sign here," he handed her the clipboard where Maxie scribbled something that was scribbled like a girl.

"Oookay and this also is for you," he excitedly smiled as he gave her a small sky blue box and a card.

"He said to look at the box and then the card," he smirked seeing she was mesmerized.

She felt his presence leave the porch where she quickly looked up shouting, "Wait!"

He turned to her hearing her confused statements, "Um who? Who did you say this was from?"

"Ummm," he looked back down, "oh," he glanced up at her, "A Damian Spinelli." He nodded before instructing his men to pack it up and get back in the vehicle.

Mac turned his eyes to Robin and Patrick, "Did he just say Damian Spinelli?"

"Uhhh," Robin giggled looking up at Patrick for some help, but nothing came to his mind as did nothing come to Maxie's mind as the second she undid the ribbon and removed the top of the box. The instant she saw the black velvety box inside she glanced up at the man in the moving truck for some kind of explanation, but he just pointed at her to carry on.

"Why is that man pointing in the other direction now?" Mac pondered as if there was someone on the other side of the moving truck they couldn't see.

"Um," Patrick saw a familiar face in the side view mirror of his car, "I think we'll find out soon enough." He glanced down at Robin who perked at the start of a song that she hadn't heard in a long time.

_**Were no strangers to love**_

_**You know the rules and so do I**_

"Oh for the love of gawd," Mac sighed as he knew almost instantly what this song was and exactly what was going on.

"Uncle Mac, you shush!" Robin seriously eyed him, "Don't you ruin this!"

"Fine," Mac looked up at Maxie impatient for what was to come.

Maxie never understood how he always managed to take her breath away even when he wasn't here. She rushed to open the card, skipping the whole opening the box and seeing if what she thought was in there really was in there, and read two that was written in chicken handwriting.

_Look up._

She confusingly read the two words over and over again until it suddenly dawned on her the odd 80's song that had just started playing moments ago.

**You wouldn't get this from any other guy**

Hearing such words compelled her to _look up_ where she saw the truck departing.

**I just wanna tell you how Im feeling**

If she didn't know any better it was him, leaning against this fancy new car in smoking hot jeans, an orange dress shirt, a blue tie and black leather jacket.

**Gotta make you understand**

And as the moving truck finally revealed all of him she most definitely knew it was for sure.

_**I'm never gonna give you up!**_

He mouthed the lyric and each one afterwards.

_**Never gonna let you down. **_

He leaned off his car, gazing upon her like he never had before.

_**Never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry. Never gonna say goodbye. Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.**_

He stopped right behind the couch where mouth "Never", ignoring the lyrics afterwards and then moved to walk around the couch. She watched as he sat right in the middle of the couch and relaxed his hands behind it. As the lyrics repeated he mouthed every word of it until she finally stood in front of him.

"Never Maximista," he assured her, "Never will I give you up." He slowly leaned up from the couch, his eyes full steam ahead on her, "Never will I let you down." He took the card from her hand and tossed it back to the couch, "Never will I run around and desert you." He cupped both her cheeks and wiped her tears away with his thumbs, "Never will I make you cry." He removed the blue box from her hand and got down on one knee, "Never will I say goodbye." He softly smiled as he removed the black velvety box from the blue one, "Never will I tell a lie or hurt you." He seriously, but lovingly looking at her, "Never because I love you…" He grabbed her shaking hand, "And I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He kissed it before glancing up at her with a smile he'd only dreamed of showing her until now, "Will you Maximista, marry the Jackal?"

XOXOXOXOX

Next chapter! Will she says yes or no?! Theme Songs: How to save a life and Love and Memories. Review!


	35. How to save a life

Chapter 35

"How to save a life"

Damian Spinelli would always be the most romantic and kindest hearted man Maxie Jones ever knew. She knew that many women in her position would nod their head hopelessly saying 'yes' as tears of joy streamed down their cheeks. They'd go weak in the knees, wrap their arms around him and smother him in kisses. Such women would point at the couch or grab his hand and slow dance to the song that was playing or gaze down at the ring and admire the thoughtfulness a man like Damian Spinelli had gone to express his love. Maxie Jones was not one of those women. She stared at the ring in tears of horror, as she found herself not ready to be married and more certain than ever not ready to be a mother.

"Patrick!" Robin playfully hit her baby's father, "How come you've never done anything romantic like this for me!"

"Ow um," he startlingly jumped but before he could mutter anything else he heard Mac grunting, "I told him no. I told that…"

"Mac," Robin quickly turned her attention to him, "Don't you do anything to ruin this. Let's go," she patted his shoulder motioning him to get into his car.

"Okay okay," he opened the car door where he then heard Robin excitingly shouting Maxie's name, "You go girl!!!!"

Maxie lightly chuckled with a smile at Robin and Patrick who were getting into their cars.

"Maxie," Spinelli softly spoke her name.

She glanced back down at him where as she heard their audience leaving, she saw him intently eyeing her determined.

"I'm not doing this because of the baby, I've always considered you to be that person I could spend the rest of my life with. I whole heartedly believe that we are destined to be together and that you are the one." He kissed her hand, "And I'd be the happiest man on earth if you'd let me spend the rest of my days taking care of you and letting our love grow stronger with each of those passing days."

She sweetly smiled as he seemed to have his poetic rhyme back in his vocabulary. Besides the occasional 'I', he was back, her Spinelli was right here in front of her. He was asking the world of her, but it was too much.

"Spinelli," she began to negatively nod.

"I love you," he told her once more, "You're love saved me. It saved me from being bitter, saved me from diving into self-pity, it saved me that night on the docks and every moment since then."

The only other person to have such deliverance in their eyes, such belief and optimism was Georgie. Georgie and Spinelli would have been so perfect for each other, she thought, so perfect.

"I know you're scared, but I am too. We'll get through this together," he promised with a shining smile.

"Spinelli," she sniffled with a smile, "Let's go inside where we can be alone." She suggested as Robin and Patrick honked their horns to be obnoxious and the neighbors were staring.

"Um yeah," he nodded quickly. It wasn't what he was expecting, but he realized that his creative proposal had brought attention to a moment that should be private.

"Spinelli," she covered her mouth as she began to see a brush of hurt display across his face.

"No it's okay," he rose from his knee, closing the box and sliding it into his pocket, "Um," he coughed trying to keep his composure that the ball was still in his court, "Let's just go where you'll be comfortable."

She nodded taking his hands from behind and walked him inside to the house. Her hand left his when they walked through the front door. He looked up at her seeing she couldn't rush fast enough into the living room. His mouth went dry as he habitably ran his tongue nervously against the teeth in his mouth. Closing the door from behind he hesitantly entered the living room where he saw her standing with her back to him. One hand lied on her hip and the other lied folded on her face. From the angle he stood at she was more than emotional she was troublingly upset.

"What's wrong?" He calmly, but almost confusingly glared at her.

"Nothing," she answered high pitched.

"Really?" He asked like he wasn't buying it, "Because when you're afraid to tell me something you get this tickle in your throat."

"Nope," she wiped the tears from her eyes before clearing her throat to speak again, "I'm just happy."

He huffed unconvincingly, "Then look at me."

He saw her eyes and knew, he knew in the deepest parts of his heart and mind the answer to the silence in the room. He looked away from her to the ground, "I ask again," he glanced up, "What's wrong?"

"No-thing," she repeated as she walked towards him where he snapped his head at her, "Well something must be." He raised her voice and she stopped suddenly in her tracks where he continued, "I just proposed and you haven't said anything."

"Spinelli calm down," she honestly looked at him not to get worked up, "Can we just talk about this?"

"Of course," he smiled relived where he stepped forward and she motioned to the couch.

"I know how this must look," he sat down, "And I'll tell you again, I'm not doing this because of the baby."

"I'm sorry," he innocently looked up at her, "I didn't mean to scare you with this," he removed the box and opened it so she could get another look. "It's just that I want you to know that I am one hundred percent committed to you."

"Spinelli," she tried to interrupt, but he took her hand in his, "We don't have to get married now, if you want to wait till after the baby is born that's okay." He put the box in her hand so she could see the glistening 2.5-carat diamond, "I want you to have the wedding of your dreams."

It was just as breath taking as the first time she saw it that afternoon when they were shopping. She knew it was the exact ring she tried on, the forty thousand dollar one, the most famous of Tiffany's engagement rings. She remembered being curious at the idea of marriage and she frowned in this very moment at such thoughts scurrying from her mind. She didn't want to be permanently sealed to him, not in anyway, not now, maybe not ever and that's what sent her tears, hanging by a thread, down her cheeks. Fear consumed her speechless and Spinelli was beginning to worry that this was not 'just a talk'.

"Is it the ring?"

"No," she quickly nodded before swallowing her tears, "It's beautiful, I love it."

"Just not me," he clenched his jaw, looking away from her as she quickly gazed up at him in terror that he thought that. He felt her grab his hand while in the corner of his eye he saw her close the box and set it on the coffee table.

"Spinelli! Look at me!" She panicked where she cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her, "I LOVE you." She desperately told him, "I do."

Rubbish is what her words were. Lies. If she loved him none of this would be happening. His eyes diverted from hers where she painfully closed hers.

"I can't do this," she tenderly leaned against his shoulder where his eyelashes batted a string of tears, "Which part?"

"I can't be a mother Spinelli, I can't settle down right now."

"No," he negatively nodded.

"Spinelli please," she tightly grabbed his hand, "Please try to understand."

"Understand?" He huffed unbelievably where he caught her hopeless stare of not wanting to hurt him. She knew in the aches of her heart that she was saving both their lives by ending what would end eventually. "Spinelli I love you…"

"Don't," he pulled away from her where she exclaimed his name as his hand slip from hers.

"Don't say that!" He stood with his back to her while his hands tightly grasped his hair, "Because those words don't mean anything anymore!" He dropped his hands to his hips where he heard her repeat the same three words, "Stop it!" He looked over his shoulder, "Stop saying that you love me because you don't."

"Yes I do!" She angrily stood up, "But we can barely make decisions for myself let alone ones for a child!"

"What!" He stood bewildered, "Every decision I have made has been for that baby and for you! I have changed my entire life around!"

"And who asked you to do that?!" She shouted walking towards him, "You should want to stop working for Jason because of you, not because you suddenly have a kid and a girl friend to worry about, but because you don't want to get hurt or god forbid die."

"Did Mac put you up to this?" He insistently looked at her wondering how one day she could want the world and the next want it without him.

She ignored his statement and referred back to her words, "But we both know you'd never willingly stop, you love working for Jason."

"Not more than I love you," he honestly looked at her seeing his poetic words touch her. "Look," he walked up to her taking her hand, "I know you're scared…"

"Spinelli it's so much more than that," she slowly sobbed in every syllable.

"Listen to me," he looked in her eyes, "I know this isn't how you pictured your life, but I'm not going to let you give up on your dreams." He gently cupped her cheek, "I'm not going to let you quit at anything, especially the job YOU," he paused before smirking. "And I," he humorously chuckled with her, "Have worked so hard to keep."

"Spin-e-lli," she bit her lip.

"I'll be a stay at home dad okay?" He wiped the tears from her face, "I'll work from home and take care of him or her and have dinner ready when you get home. I'll be Mr… Jones." He chuckled, "But I'll do it." He sincerely gazed down at her seeing fresh tears stroll down her cheeks as his promising words seemed to bring back that glow of happiness he had seen so many days ago.

"Spin-elli," she closed her eyes taking a deep sigh, "I'm not ready for this."

"We'll take it one day at a time," he calmly told her as he wiped each tear of hers away, "One day at a…"

"No," she painfully stood her ground where she opened her eyes, "We can't be parents."

"Why?" He whined closing his eyes crushingly.

"Because," she leaned her forehead against his, "I don't want to be a mother."

He leaned away from her, "That's not true."

"Yeeee-sssss, yes it is," she said once more with confidence, but he used it against her, "How can you say that after the other day! When you told me you thought you almost lost her!" He honestly looked at her, "Huh? Or was that a lie too!"

"NOooooo!" She whined, "And what do mean 'was that a lie too'?"

"Oh I think you know what I mean," he stood with his hands on his hips, "Gawd I am a fool."

"What?" She looked at him emotionally lost.

"You heard me, I'm a fool because I thought you meant what you said, but clearly you…you didn't, CLEARLY, I'm not anything to you."

"Gah!" She angrily cried out, "If you believe that then I hate you!"

"Good then I hate you too because what you're doing here, trying to convince me that those days when we bickered about the sex of the baby or inherited that blue elephant from Cameron or saw our girl in those ultrasounds…" He paused seeing her hiccup her tears of what he knew was a joy, "To convince me that in those days you weren't happy, that they didn't HAPPEN, is cruel and makes you what I always refused you to be," his lip trembled, "A selfish bitch." He disgustingly turned away from her grabbing the hair on his head, closing his eyes and kicking himself for the words he just said no matter how much she deserved them.

She whimpered bringing her hand to her forehead while the other slowly slipped to her hip. It was a losing battle, the kind where they'll walk away acting like they were never anything to be remembered. The emotional tug of that realization made her nauseous and light headed and she wondered how much longer she could go one like this.

"What test did I not pass?" He somberly looked over his shoulder to her.

"What? Spinelli there was never a test with you," she honestly looked at him where he nodded his head trying to figure out what other explanation there was for this.

"Is it because of my connections then? Am I too dangerous for you as Mac said?" He shrugged his shoulders where she nodded no.

"I don't have enough money?" He simply asked and she was speechless because she didn't understand what he was getting at.

"Well it can't be that I'm not manly enough right? I dress properly, I have backbone on me now, I can put up a fight and defend myself…" He lingered and she still looked at him clueless.

"Am I just not the same person you fell in love with in the sewers? Is the guy who said 'he'd give his heart, body and soul until someone wished to had it back' is he not here when you look at me?"

"No," she nodded negatively like he was still here; the geeky boy whom let her cry on his shoulder was still here. "Spinelli…" She called his name where he turned to his side becoming deep in thought. "Spinelli talk to me, please," she took a deep breath wanting to walk over to him, but her knees didn't budge.

"Then what is it?" He shrugged his shoulders turning to her, "What did I do?"

"No-thing," she stuttered as his broken face of tears set on her eyes.

"THEN WHY AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!" He screamed at her sending a jolt through her emotions, "Huh! WHY!" He yelled further, "What is wrong with me that you can't want a future with me?" He hurtfully pointed to himself before the pain in his eyes widened to the woman he loved suddenly losing her grip on reality, "Max..." He caught her in his arms where she was relatively still conscious. "It's okay," he quietly told her as her arms were tightly wrapped around him. "You're alright," he said as he gently set her on the couch. He leaned away where she held onto his hand not wanting him to leave her because a part of her was scared, was wondering what the hell she was doing pushing him away one minute and wanting him to never leave her the next.

"All this changes is the tone of my voice," he explained for so many times before he had let her health be the reason to drop the argument.

"Spin…" She tenderly squeezed his hand.

"Um," he looked up from her hand that he'd rather not be touching, "I'm gonna get you some water, have you had anything to eat today?" He looked at her relatively irritated that he had to act caring towards her because his heart wouldn't let him otherwise.

"Not for a few hours," she nervously looked at him.

"I'll be right back," he assured her without a smile where he looked down at his hand and then glanced at her.

"Oh right," she let go, "Sorry." She tried to apologize, but she realized he wasn't in the mood to hear such words as he walked away from her with no emotion.

"Thanks," she looked at him as he walked to the kitchen where he said, "Anything for…" And then he stopped in his tracks, as he would have said 'you'. She watched him shake it off and then enter the kitchen and she couldn't feel anymore troubled. She lied back on the couch trying to calm down, but how could she? She was slowly losing her best friend in a decision she really had no idea if she wanted anymore. All she knew was that she wanted to go back to the way they were. When they didn't have to decide in this very moment what they were and who they were going to be. As she rested her hands on her stomach she heard car doors from outside and hoped to god that was Lulu and Johnny, reinforcements to help on the current issues at hand.

Lulu pissingly closed the car door and turned to Johnny who pulled his car into the driveway sooner than her, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing!" He stood two inches from her face.

"Maxie is my friend."

"Well there you go, she's mine too." He smirked where he suddenly saw movement in the passenger seat of her car, "What the hell is he doing here?!" He looked away from her, "Didn't I tell you to stay out of Port Charles!"

"Excuse me mate?" Ethan opened the car door, "I'm sorry but I thought America was all about freedom…"

"Oh I'll show you what freedom Americans have!" Johnny attempted to walk around her car, but Lulu pushed him away, "Johnny!" She pushed him once more, "Johnny!" She shouted louder where he looked away from Ethan's smirk, "Lulu I thought you and I," he lowered his voice, "Were going to try."

"And we did," she truthfully told him.

"So that's it?" Johnny looked at her appalled.

"Let's not do this now," she desperately looked at him not to ask her to explain Ethan.

Johnny huffed in disbelief and turned away from her, "John…" She felt bad because she wasn't choosing him over Ethan, she was just spreading her wings and seeing if she could essentially be with someone else without thinking of her piano boy.

"Um Looloo?" Ethan awkwardly asked for her attention, "You want me to wait out here?"

Johnny swiftly turned his head to him, "I think that would be a great idea."

Lulu annoyingly glared at Johnny, "Ethan if you could, just wait ten minutes for me to see if she'd like to meet you…"

"Oh I doubt she will considering Spinelli told us he's bad," Johnny stared Lulu not to be selfish, but just as he was about to mention the idea of not wanting to upset Maxie, Ethan comically laughed.

"Well Damian isn't all he's cracked up to be," Ethan insinuated where Johnny and Lulu glanced at him wondering what he meant, "But go ahead doll face, I'll wait here." Ethan comfortably sat on the edge of her car as Johnny and Lulu looked at each other puzzled as to what to do.

Spinelli set the glass of water in Maxie's hands and then placed the plate of crackers on the cushion next to her before sitting on the edge of the coffee table.

"Thanks," she hesitantly said after she took a sip of water.

"Yeah well," he looked at his hands agitated, "You're supposed to be taking it easy."

She disappointedly looked at him in the way he refused to look at her, "Spin-el-li." She set the glass on the table and reached for him.

"Don't…touch me," he got up to set distance between them.

"Spinelli," she whined, "Please don't be like that."

"Like what?" He snapped at her, "How would you like me to react?" He stood in front of the fireplace with his hands on his hips.

"I don't know, but you're acting like everything I ever did for you wasn't sincere."

"It wasn't!" He raised his voice in all honesty, "Going by your sudden change of mind, you didn't come over last week because you really wanted us to be a family." He paused waiting for her to deny her heartless actions, "In fact I bet that story you told me was a crock of shit!"

"Spinelli!" She hurtfully shouted wondering how dare he could rule her that emotionless.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time you've lied or manipulated to get what you want! Which isn't me, no you don't want ME because if you so called 'loved' me, you wouldn't be breaking my heart with this ridiculous idea that you don't want our baby that WE created!"

Lulu looked over her should at Ethan who was happily sitting on her car, "You know Johnny you could be a little nicer to Ethan."

"You're sleeping with him, how..."

She stopped at the foot of the porch, "Is that what you really think?" She looked up at him astonished, "You think I'm that willing to just throw us away?"

He instantly regretted accusing her of cheating, but just as he motioned to apologize, she interrupted him, "Do you hear that?"

Spinelli paced in front of the fireplace tossing his jacket on the chair and began rolling up his sleeves, "I can't believe I misread all those signals."

"You didn't!"

"I did!" He stopped in his tracks after finishing his sleeve, "I did, I must have misread the begging, the crying, the kisses, gawd, you came to me that rainy afternoon for one reason, because YOU don't want to be alone!" He infuriatingly shook his head, "Well I have one wake up call for you, if you do this you will be alone! There will be no US."

"That's not fair!" She sprung up from the couch.

"You want to talk about fair! My father gave up his rights to me! I didn't get to know him nor did I get to know my brother or my sister! I had to be raised in that miserable town, feeling like a piece of shit every fucking day of my life! So don't talk to me about fair when you're asking me to do the same! To give up the rights to my OWN flesh and blood! To my child!" He shouted so loud that Johnny and Lulu could hear his words in the doorway!

"Why do you want to hurt me…"

"I don't want to hurt you!" She desperately shouted.

"Well you have and all for what?" He huffed amusingly, "So you don't have to handle nine months? Well seven to be exact, but is it so that you can look like a angel to daddy and maybe be his favorite daughter for once instead of his only daughter?" He chuckled tauntingly, "Or is it because of your reputation?" He smirked, "Well I'll tell you something Maxie, you've never really had a great reputation, everyone knows you've done your fair share of sleeping around."

"Stop it!" Lulu walked into the room with Johnny right behind her.

"And look my prime example," he grinned before Lulu walked over to Maxie where she whispered in concern, "Are you okay?"

Spinelli huffed in disbelief still at the friendship that had formed between the two, how fake it was to him, "It wasn't enough for her to break up you're brother's marriage, she had to sleep with Logan and when that wasn't enough she tried to seduce Johnny for…how much was Claudia going to pay you?"

"What?" Lulu slowly said with this being news to her.

"Oh that's right, tell me how much was it again? Let me ask you, if I double the amount will you keep the baby?"

"You can't bribe me Spinelli," Maxie stood there completely unamused at the way he was treating her like a prostitute.

"Everyone has a price Maxie, now hmm what was it, ah twenty thousand! So doubling it would be forty thousand." He looked at her wondering if that was enough, "That's the wedding ring I bought you."

"Whoa you proposed Spinelli?" Johnny comically laughed at how ironic there situations were.

"Yeah I did," he amused as he walked over to his Jacket, "I came here like a schmuck, playing some cheesy song and going above and beyond," he glanced down at the pocket he pulled his check book from, "Thinking everything that came out her mouth was true."

Maxie caught his stare and just about erupted with heartbreak, "Look, I wasn't lying when I said I loved you, but you and I haven't been together long enough to decide if we're ready for this baby or Marriage!" She picked up the box and threw it at him.

He ducked seeing the box hit the floor, "That's real nice of you." He negatively looked at his checkbook where he began filling out a check.

"Lulu," Maxie quietly looked over to her, "I didn't do it."

"I know," she stated, but it didn't mean she wasn't about to forget that she still took the offer.

"Here," Spinelli walked over to her, "I did you one better."

She took the check seeing eighty thousand written in the margin, "Oh is that all a baby's worth to you?"

"Oh you want more?" He laughed looking at Johnny who was just as amused, "Greedy, but no, I have all the money in the world, here," he ripped a blank check, "Write down whatever number comes to your head and I'll pay you it." He slammed the check on the coffee table, "I always wondered how much a night with you would cost." He grinned at Johnny and then as he glanced over to Maxie, he felt her hand strike his cheek. No one had ever made her feel as low as he did tonight.

"Do you think by treating me like some prostitute is going to encourage me to have this baby with you?"

"Well I tried everything else!" He desperately shouted, "I tried to be that good supportive boyfriend, but apparently that's not what you're looking for. MY MISTAKE!" He turned away from her grabbing his leather jacket.

"Come on Spin," Johnny nodded in the direction of the front door, "She doesn't want you, she's got the same problem as Lulu, wants to see what else is out there before settling."

"No," Lulu snapped at him, "I don't want to settle with you because of what you did to Michael." She uttered uncontrollably before realizing what she said. Johnny looked at her speechless while Maxie just studied Spinelli's face.

"Spinelli, I…" Maxie attempted to change the subject.

"No," he interrupted, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing just forget it Spinelli," Lulu looked at him where she realized it was too late.

"You're responsible for Michael aren't you?" Spinelli questioned wondering if it could really be true.

"Spinelli," Maxie spoke trying to get his attention, but Spinelli diverted hers and Lulu's attempts to distract him from the truth.

"Answer the question."

Johnny shrugged his shoulders, "It was never supposed to happen the way it did."

Spinelli slowly huffed before looking back at Lulu and Maxie who weren't nearly as surprised or shocked as him, "You two knew?" He saw there speechless faces, especially Maxie's who seemed guilty as ever to have kept it from him, "Even you?"

Her speechlessness forced him to cry out in despair, "Oh gawd!" He turned away from them for a brief moment before looking back at Johnny whom he saw as a best friend, a brother of types, "Do you know the position I'm in now?"

"Spinelli it was meant for Sonny," Johnny seriously spoke, "Telling the truth isn't going to do Morgan or Corinthos a bit of good."

"What about Carly? Huh? Who's come to me time and time again wondering if I got any new leads on who put her son in a coma! And you Lulu," he looked at her, "I get that you love him and want to protect him, but you really are colder than I thought."

"Hey," Johnny raised his voice stepping towards him, "Lulu believes keeping it quiet is for the best and if anyone in this room is cold, it's her." Johnny pointed to Maxie where Lulu honestly looked at Johnny to keep his mouth shut. "No," he spat at her, "You know how Lulu convinced Jason to fire you Spinelli? It wasn't in guilt that the violence Jason caused had taken away everyone Maxie ever loved, no Lulu went for a much stronger tactic knowing Jason can't raise his own son."

"How did you do it then?" Spinelli looked at her wanting to know the god's honest truth, but Johnny spoke for her. "She told Jason that Maxie thought she was pregnant, now," Johnny looked back at Spinelli, standing right next to him, "how do you think she would have known that unless Maxie told her…" Johnny evilly looked at Maxie before glancing back at Spinelli who was taken slightly off guard, "In fact let's forget that Maxie might have told her. Let's go off on the fact that she observed it. Seeing as Lulu's been pregnant before, she can probably see the signs. And how would Lulu have observed such possible behavior?" Johnny remained quiet for a few brief seconds before shouting, "Oh! I know! Saturday, remember those hours before the concert?" Johnny looked back at the two blondes, "Remember how long it took them to get ready, how close they were, how buddy buddy they were?"

Spinelli interestingly stared at them, "You knew I was right didn't you?"

Johnny interrupted before Maxie could explain, "Oh she knew Spinelli, remember when I told you she looked a little unhappy at the concert and I assumed it was her thinking about Matt Hunter?"

"Yes," Spinelli crossed his arms, finally things were beginning to make sense.

"Well I'm beginning to think she was unhappy because…" Johnny lingered where Spinelli filled in the blank, "Of where I held you reminded you of the idea that you might be pregnant."

"Good," Johnny smiled, "Now, why on earth would someone who thought she was pregnant all the way back then, not only lie to you, who initially suspected of the idea, but look unhappy."

"Johnny," Lulu glared at him, "Because she didn't want to ruin the night with baby talk."

"No, I don't think that's it," Johnny sinisterly looked up at Spinelli, "No I think it's be-cause," he started to explain, but Spinelli took over. "Because you knew back then you didn't want this." Spinelli looked at Maxie in aw of disappointment, "And that's why you kept pushing me away. You knew I was catching on so you stirred up trouble with Jason to deflect my attention on you." Spinelli huffed in disbelief where he glanced at Lulu, "And because Lulu got fired that morning, she knew that if she got rid of Jason, the obstacle to telling me what you so desperately didn't want to tell me because you knew from the start you wanted an abortion, that you would have no where else to hide."

Johnny proudly smiled at Spinelli, "And the quickest way to get Jason out of your life…"

"Would be to have him fire me and so when that happened it just so worked out that I blamed Maxie, which upset you Lulu because that wasn't how your plan to help me find out about my…wee one was supposed to go down. So you came to me and put all the blame on yourself so I would take Maxie back completely and thus Jason was eliminated from the equation and I finally find out…" What a mess he thought, in the course of just days the person he thought to have loved had broken his two best friendships, "Un fucking believable."

"Spinelli," Maxie said having no idea how to begin to explain what he just discovered.

"Lies!" He turned his back to all of them, "Liars all of you!"

"Well what did you expect mate?" Ethan appeared around the corner.

Spinelli quickly turned to him as did everyone else.

"Ethan," Lulu nervously uttered like now really wasn't a good time to come into the picture.

"Sorry beautiful," Ethan charmingly smiled before bring his attention to Spinelli who looked anything but happy to see him, "Why look who's back from the dead?"

Ethan smirked as he leaned against the door frame, "I could say the same to you, tell me have you used up you're nine lives yet?"

Spinelli cautiously eyed him with a crooked smirk as his memories of their adventures flashed before him. He still held animosity towards the man, but he and Ethan went way back and like all friendships some have a falling out and others have a…falling in so to say.

"Spinelli," Maxie wearily looked at him, "Who is this?"

"This is the son of a bitch…"

"Aw that hurts Damian," Ethan pouted.

Spinelli huffed amused, "Who stole half a million dollars from me and then fed me to the fishes."

"Aw can't we just call that oh I don't know, water over the bridge now?" Ethan shrugged his shoulders before rubbing his hands together, "I mean it's not like you haven't done well for yourself?" He insisted with his eyes wandering to the blonde next to Lulu. "So," he leaned off the doorframe and walked passed Johnny and Lulu, "Why don't you wipe that pissed off look on your face?" He stopped in front of Spinelli, "And take me to the nearest bar where I can buy you a drink to commemorate you on surviving the seventh circle of hell."

Spinelli moved his hands to his hips with a surprised grin, "You know you're a real Jackass for showing up like this. Letting me think you were dead."

"And you were a real prince charming selling me out to that big fish."

"Eye for an eye," Spinelli simply said like that was the only explanation.

Ethan nodded, "Like I said, water under the bridge?" Ethan held out his hand where Spinelli reluctantly shook his hand and the two pulled each other into a hug.

"Oh!" Ethan quickly pulled away from him where he pointed his finger on Spinelli's chest about to bring up an inside joke, "We are each our own devil."

"And we make this world our hell!" Spinelli excitedly finished the Oscar Wilde quote before laughing, "Damn it's good to see you!"

"Right back at you man and YOU," Ethan playfully tapped his shoulder, "Have got to tell me how you ended up working for the biggest players!"

"Why you looking for a job? I'll make a phone call."

"A phone call? Shit, now who's calling the shots?"

"What can I say," Spinelli shrugged his shoulders, "I learned from the best."

Ethan playfully wrapped his arm around Spinelli's neck turning to Johnny, Lulu and Maxie who were exactly sure how to act, "Don't you just love this guy?" Ethan ignored their speechlessness and looked up at Spinelli, "Damian you are still the same!"

"Nah," Spinelli nodded his head negatively where Ethan removed his grip around him and let Spinelli continue, "I've become a softy!"

"Well it's time we raise some hell!" Ethan hit his chest, "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

Spinelli softly smiled, nodding no, "I would, but I can't, I was kind of in the middle of something."

"Oh that's right!" Ethan brightly smiled, "I heard as I walked in, congratulations are in order," he quickly glanced at Spinelli, "Hey we'll drink to that instead." He nodded like that was a much better idea and then turned to Maxie, "But on another night." He could see his timing was not appreciated, "It was good to meet you. You've got yourself a catch here." He patted Spinelli on the back before making his way out of the living room.

"Wait," Spinelli uttered after blankly staring at Maxie and seeing she wasn't about to say something to keep him here.

_Knock knock._

"I'll get that," Lulu quickly pulled herself out of the situation.

"Spinelli we're not done here."

"We are," he nodded taking a deep sigh before grabbing his leather jacket.

"Spinelli," she started to walk towards him, "Yes I lied, but…"

"But you broke up two of my closest friendships. All because you don't want to commit to me," he calmly, but hurtfully spoke the truth, "And as much as that breaks my heart," he glanced down at the ground while his hand scratched his head, "That's ok-ay." He shrugged his shoulders before looking up at her with a few tears in his eyes, "I don't want you with me out of pity…"

"Is that what you believe?" She upsettingly looked at him from across the room, "You honestly believe that everything that's happened between us has been because I felt obligated to you?"

"I don't want to," he softly uttered, "I don't want to believe you were with me because I saved your life."

"Spinelli I wanted to tell you," she desperately started walking towards him again.

"No you didn't," he nodded slowly, "You never did and I finally get it now." He put his hand up not wanting her to come closer, "I do." He looked away from her to slide his jacket on.

"Spin-e-lli," she stopped in front of him seeing a look of utter agony being this close to her.

"Thank you," he genuinely looked up at her, "For helping me get through my recovery."

"I helped you because we're friends," she touched his hand before slowly raising her other hand to cup his cheek, "And we're in love."

He painfully shut his eyes and she brought her lips closer to his, closing her own eyes where their foreheads touched, "We are."

He breathed irrationally, "I want to believe so very much that it was real."

"It is," she looked up at him where he leaned away, "No it was a lie." He grunted holding the tears in his eyes before moving away from her. He felt her tug and turned to her to let go, but instead she uttered the same three words, "I-love-you."

He stared at her wondering how she could say those words like she believed them, "No…" He slowly nodded, "I don't think you do." He gently removed his hand from hers, "You don't know what love is and apparently I don't know either." He slid his hands into his pockets, "Gawd…" He sighed, "I would have done anything for you, but this, I simply won't do because I know you and you want this baby."

"Whoa!" An old voice rang out.

"Dillon," Maxie slowly said.

"You're pregnant?" Dillon surprisingly looked at her taken back where she slowly nodded to confirm what he heard. "Aw congratulations!"

"That's what I said!" Ethan laughed where Dillon glanced at him, "Who are you?"

"I'm Lulu's boyfriend."

"Actually," Johnny raised his voice, "I am."

Dillon humorously smiled, "Um Lulu…" He looked at her to explain, but she was more concerned with Maxie and Spinelli.

"Spinelli…"

"The name is Damian, don't call me Spin-el-li anymore." He turned away from her where she grabbed his arm, "You don't mean that."

"You do this don't be expecting me to stay around."

"Do what?" Dillon curiously asked and Spinelli turned to him with anger softly painted on his face, "Starts with an A."

"And rhymes with," Johnny coughed, "Smish-morshmion."

"You can't have an abortion," Dillon seriously spoke completely appalled that she was even considering that, "Georgie wouldn't want you to do that."

"He's right," Spinelli kindly raised his voice.

Maxie crossed her arms in shock as Johnny agreed as well. She then looked at Ethan, not expecting him to talk, but figured he probably had an opinion.

"Hey I didn't know her, but I'm sure she'd want you to do what makes you happy," Ethan shrugged his shoulders before glancing down at Lulu who was the next person Maxie was interested in hearing an opinion from.

"Lulu? You care to tell me what to do too?"

"I think Ethan is right. Georgie would want you to do what makes you happy and if getting an abortion is what you feel is best for you…"

Spinelli huffed, "Of course you'd say that."

"It's HER decision Spinelli!" Lulu stepped forward as Dillon erupted with a tantrum, "And the father just sits back and watches her kill his child!"

"Dill-on!" Maxie hurtfully shouted.

"I'm sorry!" Dillon honestly spoke pointing to his chest, "But it's not fair for you to do this to him, just like it sure as hell wasn't fair for Lulu to do the same to me!"

"Don't go making there situation the same as ours!" Lulu yelled, "We were both young and not in love remember?"

"Oh I remember clearly Lulu, I remember you lying to break up my marriage because you wanted me SO BAD and finally when you had that connection to tie us together forever, you ended it."

"You know it was much more difficult then that!" Lulu pointed her finger at him, "Did you forget about the court order?"

"That's not a bad idea," Spinelli seriously joked where Lulu snapped her head at him hearing Maxie's cries.

"No you are not going to do that to her!" Lulu pointed the finger on Spinelli before looking at Maxie, "This is your decision." Lulu put her hands together in a prayer form and pointed them at Maxie, "If this is what you want, I support you."

"LULU!" Spinelli exclaimed, "I can't believe you're taking her side!"

"I'm not choosing a side, but that of choice and if she doesn't want to do this, don't force her. No one expected to sleep with anyone and make a baby, it was a bad night and situation."

Spinelli pissingly stared at Lulu, "Yeah which you caused!"

"OKAY!" Johnny intervened positioning himself between them where Dillon uttered to himself "Lulu causes everything!"

"Oh you shut up!" Johnny pointed at Dillon.

"And who the hell are you?"

"Johnny Zacchara! And if I hear you disrespect Lulu again!"

"You'll do what?"

"I'll make you disappear!" Johnny threatened where Lulu rolled her eyes, "Oh stop it!" She turned to everyone, "You know what I remember the most out of what happened to us Dillon?" She looked at him who was trying to become sincere.

"Georgie," she nodded at how admirable Georgie was during their situation, "It would have been really easy for her to be cruel to me and beg of me to do what you want or to have the abortion so you and her could get back together…but she didn't. She asked me to do what I," she pointed at herself, "Thought was right…What was good for me and if you really think that me giving up that child was something I was really happy to do, it wasn't. It was really hard and it's going to be hard for her too." She glanced at Maxie before looking at Spinelli, "But this is her decision because it is her life it's going to affect and her body and as much as this is going to hurt you, like it hurt Dillon, you are her friend, first and foremost and you need to find a way to accept this."

Spinelli clenched his jaw as his eyes weighed heavy on the ground trying not to break with tears. He heard Lulu walk over to Maxie and sympathetically touch her shoulder, "And if this is what you want and you're sure about it. I will support you."

Maxie began to nod thankful for having someone on her side, but Spinelli infuriatingly nodded his head no, "Well I won't."

"Spinelli," Lulu tried to touch him, but he backed away from both of them, "I'm sorry," he apologized until he almost slipped on the ring box. He looked down at the box and picked it up, "Well it's almost as crushed as me." Maxie motioned over to him where he pointed his finger to her, "Save it." He walked to the coffee table, "I don't want to hear how you LUV ME because you want to know how much I love you?" He persistently looked at her where he raised the box, "A future." He set it on the coffee table, "A future." He stared at her still wondering what the hell happened to change everything.

"You want that drink now?" Ethan pondered and Spinelli glanced up at him before looking back at Maxie, "My as well got nothing to keep me here." He said knowing his words would terribly hurt her and they did, they hurt her to the point where she decided to give him a taste of her own heart break. Spinelli looked from her, throwing his jacket on and then walked passed them where he smiled up at Dillon, "I'll buy you a drink."

"I didn't know you drink?"

"I don't, but tonight deserves a toast…" He looked over his shoulder, "To being free." He tauntingly chuckled as he turned his attention back to Ethan and Dillon.

Lulu softly looked away from them with the intention to tell Maxie that perhaps space was the best, but she saw the bad blonde one before her, "Don't." But it was too late, Maxie moved around her and walked up to Spinelli, "Well you're not gonna come back here drunk!"

"Who says I'm coming back at all?" He honestly said trying not to be bothered by the fear of abandonment developing on her face. "I mean why come back?" He shrugged his shoulders, "You know what you want. You have my money to pay for it. You don't need me."

She hated it when they did this, when they started an argument that got so far drawn out that they became two entirely different people to hurt each other. Surely he wasn't serious. Surely he'd come back and they'd sort it all out after clearing their heads.

"What?" Spinelli barked at her hating that he saw visible tears in her eyes, "You don't! And a part of me," he crept forward, "ALWAYS knew that!" He spouted with his own face crumbling in soft tears, "And what I should have done! What I WISH to god that I had done is died on that pier!"

Slap followed by another one as he attempted to look back at her, was just the beginning of her fury for thinking such a thing. "How dare you say that!"

"You don't mean that Spinelli," Lulu spoke wondering how he could say that for so many people needed him.

"Will you do me a favor Max?" Spinelli nodded his head up and down while his face was completely torn apart, "Will you just picture what your life would have looked like had I died?" He whimpered, "Is there baby in it? Because I bet you would have kept that baby in my memory!" He somberly nodded with his lips licking the salty tears that had run down his cheeks. "And just like Georgie gave you me, you would have realized that I gave you a pretty damn good gift to. You would have seen just exactly how strong and how brave you are and that you're not like you're mother. You could never be like her and I refuse to think that you'd one day get bored and leave everything you've worked so hard to have." He finished breathing erratically before turning to Lulu, "So yes Lulu, I do wish I had died because she is killing me worse than the bullets ever did."

"Then go!" Maxie screamed pushing him against the wall, "Go because I don't want _kill_ you anymore than I already have." She backed away from him where he remorsefully looked at her, "Max."

"GO!" She pushed him again where she suddenly felt light headed and Dillon caught her in his arms.

"I'm fine!" She shouted to Lulu and Dillon trying to help her.

"Max," Spinelli walked towards her wanting to just see if she was okay but she hatefully looked up at him, "Go."

"I'm so-rry," his voice cracked.

"GO!" She angrily spat and he clenched his jaw nodding, "FINE. I will go." He shouted in her face, "I'll go and I'll never come back! This is the last you're ever going to see me!"

"Spinelli," Lulu looked at her to really stop shouting for couldn't he tell that Maxie really didn't want him to go?

"No I want her to hear this!" He sobbed, "Don't bother calling me or contacting anybody to find me because I don't ever want to see or talk to your trampy self again! And when you finally get that through that stubborn head of yours, after every attempt to get my attention has failed, you'll realize you lost the best thing that ever happened to you!"

"Oh don't flatter yourself Spinelli!"

"You better look at me real hard Maxie because I'm not the poor little insufferable nerd that believed he was only worthy of one woman." He could see her insecurities about other women being with him was beginning to rot her mind and instead of ending the idea, he played on it.

"You give me up, you'll never get me back, just know that!" He turned away from her before quickly thinking of something else to say to break her heart, "Because I'm hot now! I am Damian Spinelli! A hero! A medical mystery! A legend in the underworld! And once I'm reported to be back on the market, I'm going to have a whole list of women falling to my feet," he stepped forward, "and Leyla and Stacy," he smiled happily, "Will just be the beginning, the cherry on top if you will."

She spitefully waited for him to turn his back to her when she said something she knew he'd drink himself a hangover to, "Yeah I bet they'll be real happy to be with you when they find out about your temper."

He turned to her with disappointment at her cheap shot, "Well I guess that solves it then. I'm an endangerment to women so I wouldn't have been a good father."

That was never what she meant and she further realized her words were like weapons, they wound sometimes and they had wounded his confidence horribly.

"No," Lulu slowly nodded, "That's not what she meant."

"Yeah it is." He looked back at Maxie, "Here," he reached for his wallet taking out a clip of one hundred dollar bills, "Here's my assault and battery abuse payments, buy some shoes!" He threw it at her feet and then turned away from her with no intention on looking back. The front door slammed behind him and he quietly, but slowly walked down each step as the person he just became took its effect. He spread his hands against the car before caving into himself. For the sake of never wanting to hear her cry out in agony was the reason he'd never see her again. He was never meant to have good things in this world. He realized that now. He was never meant to be happy or to be the one to give happiness to anyone else. Sniffling, he wiped his eyes and then took one last look at the house. He didn't bother waiting for Ethan or Dillon or even Johnny, he just left knowing that was wanted of him.

"Should we go after him?" Johnny cautiously scanned his eyes to Ethan who turned away from the window, "I don't know mate."

"Can you stop calling me mate? You're making me sound like someone from Pirates of the Caribbean."

"Hmm," he stroked his goatee, "I don't really see you as a Captain Jack Sparrow type."

"Oh forget it," Johnny walked away from him where Ethan humored, "Will Turner! Ah yes," he followed after while pointing to his back, "That's who you could be!" He shouted with excitement until he reached the living room where he suddenly grew quiet at Dillon scooping Maxie in his arms and carrying her to the couch.

"Maxie," Lulu softly called her name as she bent down to her side, "You've got to calm down." She wiped Maxie's hysteric tears with the tissue in her hand.

"He didn't really mean…anything-he-said-right Lulu?" Maxie hiccupped her tears searching for hope, but Lulu frailly smiled.

"No," Dillon spoke up softly, "He was just upset like you were."

"Dillon," Johnny raised his voice, "If you're going to come with us we got to leave now."

Maxie pierced his lips, "Did he really leave?"

"Of course he left," Johnny irritatingly nodded his head.

"John," Lulu looked at him to calm down.

"Um, if I may impose," Ethan comically touched Johnny's shoulders, "What this chap means to say is that Damian has left to probably get himself in trouble because that is what we men typically do after this sort of thing."

Johnny looked away from him where he realized Ethan was still touching him, "Don't touch me."

"Uh sorry," Ethan removed his hands before holding them around his back and giving Lulu a wink.

"Dillon," Lulu softly touched his shoulder, "Why don't you go with them. You might be the only one who can really talk to him about this."

"I'd rather not be," Dillon stingily responded, but nodded his head refutably, "But alright." He looked up at Johnny and Ethan, "I'll meet you out front."

Johnny nodded, "You going to be okay Lulu?"

"Of course she will be!" Ethan perked up, "She's a big gal!"

Johnny annoyingly glared away from the Pirate boy next to him where Lulu nodded, "Yes." Ethan watched as Johnny turned away from them leaving the living room and exiting the front door and then turned back to Lulu, "I don't think he likes me."

Lulu smiled at his humor before glancing down at Maxie, "Hey I'm just going to say goodbye to Ethan," she said where Maxie nodded like that was okay.

"Dillon," Lulu seriously looked at him, "Don't you say anything to upset her."

"I won't," he assured her where the second she motioned to walk away from them he apologetically turned to her, "Lulu? I'm sorry for what I said. It was wrong of me."

"Yeah it was," she turned away from him where she took Ethan by the hand and walked him to the front door.

"Every time I come home, Lulu's got a new guy," Dillon chuckled waiting for Maxie to join in.

"You hate me don't you Dillon?" Maxie sighed.

"Like I could hate you," he goofily smiled, "We all let this get to the best of us and truthfully it's between you and…" He smirked, "Spinelli?" He gazed at her like it was by far the oddest combination he could have ever thought of to fall in love.

Maxie smirked at him not to utter a word, but he couldn't help it, "Sorry I still can't believe it." He chuckled pulling away from her side, "It's just the perfect movie you know?" He stood smiling while his mind drifted, "Two complete opposites come together for the death of a sister and friend. Through finding out who killed the person they cared about they became friends and then fell in love…"

"You are such a hopeless romantic."

He bent over to her with a wide grin, "Yes, but it's a great story."

"But will this great story have a happy ending?"

"I think that all depends on you," he honestly looked at her, "Ah don't worry I'm not about to be a jerk again and tell you what I think you should do. I just think if you love him and since tomorrow is never promised, wouldn't you rather know that today, in your last moments, he is all yours?"

Maxie softly smiled at not just his words, but just seeing the man her sister adored so much, "It's good to see you."

"Really?"

"Dillon," she rolled her eyes, "I never said I didn't like you, just your hair, which actually looks good."

"Why thank you, but I have a feeling that compliment didn't come without an ulterior motive?"

Aw she couldn't get anything passed him, probably because his hair still looked the same since she last saw him, which was Georgie's funeral unfortunate as that was.

"Find him," she took a deep breath, "Please," she heavily closed her eyes before wiping her tears with a tissue, "Tell him I'm sorry and…" She whimpered, opening her eyes, "I just want to talk to him."

"Al-right," he slowly nodded before leaning motioning to kiss her cheek, "We'll find him you just relax," he changed his voice to GIRL, "With your new BFF Lulu."

"Oh shut up!" Maxie playfully rolled her eyes where Lulu walked in wondering what they were laughing about.

"He's thinks we're friends," Maxie explained and Lulu looked at Dillon appalled, "He does not."

"Oh pardon me then, frenemies," Dillon giggled standing up straight, "Well you two relax while I try to keep Jack Sparrow and the Godfather from fighting."

"Good luck with that," Lulu giggled before taking a seat in the sofa chair diagonally from Maxie.

"I will," he smirked where as he was just about to leave the living room Lulu called his name asking what he was doing in town.

"Filming well directing my first movie," he winked giving them no other information.

Lulu and Maxie surprisingly looked at each other where the second the front door closed they were suddenly quiet at the silence in the room. They looked around it with flash backs of the biggest argument they'd all been in since, since maybe Logan died. Maxie closed her eyes taking a huge sigh while breathing calmly. Lulu glanced over to her seeing her zen, but stressed form.

"Are you in any pain?"

Maxie slowly nodded 'no' while trying to keep in the strength not to cry, but she failed miserably, "No." She huffed hard "No." She sighed heavily, "No." She hiccupped her tears unable to fully pronounce 'no'. "Damn it Lulu!" Maxie cried loudly, "Damn it!"

Lulu frowned seeing her reluctant friend break down at whatever realization she was coming to. She joined her on the edge of the couch and Maxie leaned up to hug her. Lulu quietly shushed her as she sobbed like nothing else. She told Maxie all the things she needed to hear even if she knew they weren't true. Lulu comforted her like Georgie would have and that was perhaps the only reason she stayed in the house. Damian Spinelli was first and foremost her friend and because of Maxie, her friend was now suffering a slow and painful death due to heartbreak. Whatever Maxie Jones intentions were they had done anything, but safe a life.

_Next Chapter: __Tonight and for the rest of my life__ shall I never forget this night? _Review!!!! Only a few chapters left.


	36. The Departure

Author's Note: Hey y'all! So I know it's been a long time since I've updated, almost two months? I've just been really busy starting my own production company and writing scripts, so sorry for the wait! Anyway I'm really gearing towards the end of the story. The goal is to finish this before I start school again. I have a sequel in the works, which should be easier to write because everything will have already been set up. It's basically just fluff and a final conclusion to all the subplots of the story. This chapter and the next two chapters were supposed to be one chapter, but it was so long that I thought it would be better to split it up. The three chapters combine go along with the theme "Tonight and the rest of your life" because what happens in these chapters changes Spinelli and the future of Spixie forever. Each chapter is written in moments with headings because I thought it might be more interesting/easier to read. I've tried to write these next couple of chapters like I actually care/want to write, lol. I had received some tips about the writing and started looking it over and couldn't believe some of the crap I wrote that most of you thought was good! Lol. Anyway reviews would be appreciated! Thanks.

**Chapter 36**

**The Departure**

**----------------------Leaving Port Charles----------------------**

The cabin of the Jasper Jack's airplane was dimly lit with lights from outside shining in like spotlights from time to time. A hand grabbed the armrest of a leather interior chair, very nervous.

"Don't wor-ry," he felt that of a woman's touch, "Flying is a very safe form of transportation these days." The corner of his eye saw lime green nail polish on the fingers that tenderly squeezed his hand.

"Ah I know," he looked to the window as she left his side, "Nineteen times safer than a car," he glanced from the empty landing strip to the woman drawing the curtains at the entrance of the cabin.

"That's ri-ght!" She responded impressed while he, in a very opposite manner, tried not to be impressed by the way her slender legs stood out in the dark.

"So," she turned and he, not wanting to be caught gawking at her, looked back at the window to hear her say "Relax! It's going to a long flight, you're going to need a lot of rest where you're heading."

**----------------------The Truth---------------------**

"Lulu they've been gone…"

"Almost an hour and half," Lulu looked at Maxie to calm down, there was no reason to panic yet.

"Well," Maxie crossed her arms, impatient. "I wish they would call," she looked over to the phone where Lulu said quickly, "Don't check the answering machine again. No one called in the five minutes you were in the bathroom."

"Lulu," Maxie sighed with annoyance, wishing Lulu could be more supportive.

"Maxie," Lulu sighed with the same annoyance only she wished that Maxie would calm down for two seconds.

"I'm sorry Lulu!" Maxie folded her hands on her face, "I'm just really worried."

"Maxie," Lulu sunk back into the chair trying to think of something to say to her. "He's with Johnny, Dillon and Ethan, what kind of trouble could he get into?" Lulu said trying to keep a straight face.

Maxie huffed, a little amused, but couldn't keep the smile on her face for very long, "That's not what I'm worried about and you know that."

As soon as Maxie looked away from her, Lulu rolled her eyes at her behavior. What did she expect? She practically threw Spinelli out giving him every reason not to come back.

"What if he doesn't come back?" Maxie pondered, "What if he was telling the truth?" She looked up at Lulu where just as she was about to say 'what if', Lulu interrupted, "What if he does come back?" Lulu looked at her to ponder that thought instead, "What if he wasn't telling the truth?" Lulu stood up from the chair and joined Maxie on the couch, "Then," Lulu looked up at her, "What are you going to do?" Lulu looked over to the ring box on the coffee table to imply that Maxie should reconsider her decision if she hadn't already.

"I just," Maxie paused as she tried to speak truthfully about what was going through her mind when he presented her the ring, "I just never expected him to propose."

Lulu looked at her appalled, "You didn't?"

"Not so soon!" Maxie whined for it wasn't like it hadn't crossed her mind, she just wasn't sure if it was the right time, "And what do you mean 'you didn't'? You can't honestly tell me you'd think he'd want to actually do right by me?"

"Um ye-ah," Lulu said with her jaw hanging. How could Maxie be so ignorant to think Spinelli was different from any other guy who got a girl pregnant? Of course he'd want to marry her. What Maxie was forgetting, was that Spinelli actually loved her; this wasn't some proposal out of nowhere so to speak. Lulu leaned over the coffee table to grab the box. "I remember when Dillon proposed. It was about one minute after I told him I was pregnant. Gawd," she opened the box, "That was the last thing on my mind, just like it was the last thing on my mind when Johnny proposed." Lulu stared at the huge diamond shining in the light.

"Johnny doesn't like Ethan," Maxie spoke the obvious and Lulu sighed, "And why would he?" Lulu nodded her head stupid, "I was dumb to think that Johnny would be okay with me hanging out with another guy let alone running away with him. He thinks Ethan and I are sleeping together, that I have completely given up on us and that I don't love him anymore."

"But you do, just tell him that," Maxie believed whole-heartedly. She had seen on so many accounts just how deep Johnny and Lulu's love went that it wasn't just something to throw away.

"It's over Maxie," she looked up at her, "Johnny and I are just burned out right now. I can't forget what he's done and he can't forget what I've done. We've pushed each other away and it's time we just let it go before everything we ever were to each other is nothing."

"Lulu," Maxie uttered, not wanting her to think that, to give up without a fight.

"We're tired and hurt and I fear that if we don't take the time now to go our separate ways for a bit then we might never be able to salvage what's left. Sometimes you have to leave everything in order to see…"

"If there's anything worth coming back to?" Maxie pursed her lips thinking of Spinelli.

"Ye-ah," Lulu took a deep sigh before returning her eyes to the ring, "This really is a beautiful ring."

"It is," Maxie agreed with a gentle smile.

"Can I ask you a question?" Lulu asked while still staring at the diamond that she knew Kate would be jealous over.

"Go ahead," Maxie figured the question would come sooner or later.

"Well," Lulu looked up at her, timid. "What changed?" She saw Maxie's quick apprehensive reaction and re-approached her question, "I mean I don't want to be another person telling you what to do, but when I saw you that day Johnny and I got back, you looked happy, a little nervous I'll admit, but you looked…" Lulu paused, for her exact wording was something she knew they'd both laugh at.

Maxie looked at her confused almost concerned by the way she was tiptoeing around the idea, "What?"

"Well," Lulu shrugged her shoulders, unsure of how to tell her friend the truth, "You looked positively glowing."

Maxie rolled her eyes and humor quickly filled Lulu's face like she knew it would, "Seriously!" She shouted with all honesty, but Maxie looked away from her refusing to believe she expressed the feeling that all women get when they become pregnant. "When…" Lulu started just as she caught Maxie's eyes, "When you...Maxie!" Lulu laughed with annoyance for her to stop being problematic.

"Alright!" Maxie giggled, looking up at her where Lulu at last continued, "When you talked about Spinelli and the baby, you just…"

"Well don't make me ask."

"Okay!" Lulu realized she needed to stop beating around the bush and just make her point, "You," she lost the giggles and looked at her serious, "You just seemed happier than I've seen you in a long time." Lulu leaned closer to her as she saw an expression on Maxie's face that appeared to reflect she was right, "Are you sure you're not having cold feet here? A little freak out because your life is about to really change or do you really not want any of this?"

Maxie looked away from her where she slowly folded her hands over her face, "I…I don't kno-w." Her last word fell interrupted as the door opened with Dillon shouting 'Hello?'

_Spin! _Oh how ready she was to wrap her arms around him and tell him she never wanted to push him out her life again, but that little moment she had envisioned since the moment he left would have to come at another time.

Maxie stopped in her tracks, losing her enthusiasm when she saw three men who weren't her Spinelli, "Where, where is he?"

Dillon looked at Johnny and Ethan in hopes they'd be willing to give her the news, but they didn't budge. "Um," Dillon scratched his head, looking at Maxie who was beginning to put the pieces together of their secrecy, "Maxie…"

"No," she stepped away as he approached her, "It's over isn't it? He's gone."

Dillon looked down to the wooden floor, trying to think of a way to explain it to her in a way that she could understand.

"Dillon, just, say it," Maxie prepared herself for the worst, believing for the first in a while in her old motto that the worst usually happened.

"He didn't want to trouble you with this."

"No, he didn't think it was any of her business," Johnny uttered pissed. He was disgusted that Dillon thought she was entitled to know such personal information about Spinelli's life.

Dillon ignored his comments believing that she should know Spinelli wasn't coming home to her tonight because of a more pressing matter, "Spinelli is on his way to Oakfield. His grandmother is dying."

**---------------------The martini, the question and the attack-------------------**

"We should be taking off shortly Mr. Spinelli," she assured him before motioning to the bar, "Is there anything I can get you in the mean time?"

_Yeah_,_ a revolver and a bullet_.

"Um no," he nodded his head while looking down to his sore knuckles. The ache he felt as he extended his fingers and then closed them into a fist, gave him a migraine. Pressing two fingers of his other hand against his temple, he gently moved them in a circular motion.

_Yes, go away._

His eyes slowly closed as the short bursts of pain faded away, little by little. It was a huge relief to be able to wear off a headache at a time like this, a time where he didn't need any other problems. The room fell dark and that was when images of how he busted up his hand flooded his mind. Jakes + Matt Hunter = Fight.

_**Take this outside guys**_

_**I never said I was perfect Spinelli.**_

_**No just better for her.**_

_**Hey, at least I don't make her cry.**_

"Ice?"

_**That's going to bruise Hunter if you don't get ice on it.**_

_**I'm well aware! I'm a doctor thanks!**_

"Mr. Spinelli?" She touched him where he jumped, startled by her pat, "What?"

"I just thought you might want some ice for your hand."

He looked down at her hand seeing a white cloth with a few ice chips and then panned to his hand that was developing a purple bruise and had opened up a small cut, "Uh sure."

She handed it to him and then started to politely offer her duties again to him, "Oh and…"

"Yes," he jerked his head up at her not intentionally trying to convey that her presence was annoying him, but ended up doing so.

"I'm bothering you," she turned away feeling foolish and Spinelli rolled his eyes, hating that his attitude had obviously hurt her feelings.

"No wait," he whined, leaning over the armrest to grab her hand, "Look I'm..." and then he saw something that took his breath away. The spotlight shined on her just long enough for him to catch the glimpse of a woman he had never quite seen before. He had read about, seen movies about, heard about, but never in any of the places he had traveled to seen a woman with eyes as green as hers or hair as red. Her lips were a pink carnation; faint in color, but looked ever so soft.

"Sor-ry," he caught his breath, overcoming her features that had left him mesmerized moments ago. He found the strength in his weakened defenses to form a genuine smile to apologize for his behavior and then asked, "If your offer to make me a drink still stands, I'll have um, a martini." He asked having no idea why he wanted such a drink, but he supposed it was because he already had a few shots of scotch in him, my as well add gin, vodka and a little wine to the mix.

"Shaken not stirred?" She joked and he nodded amused, "That's if you have the means to make it of course."

"Oh we do," she turned to the bar behind her, "Mr. Jacks orders these all time."

"Of course he does," he said knowing full well Mr. Jacks had whatever he wanted available to him when he wanted it, "I guess I'm just surprised he needs a flight attendant to make them for him."

She looked up from the glass, perplexed by his words, "Mr. Spinelli?"

"Miss?"

"Miss Watts."

"Does Miss Watts have a first name?"

"Iris."

"I-ris," he emphasized the syllables, finding the name just as attractive as her, "Tell me Iris, now if I'm overstepping you let me know, but what's an ordinary woman like you doing on a billionaire's airplane?" He asked, staring at her to the point where he saw fear develop in her eyes.

"Please don't tell Mr. Jacks."

Spinelli raised an eyebrow, curious by her plead, "Don't tell Mr. Jacks what?"

She looked at him worried at what he might do and then frowned, "I'm not really a flight attendant, well I mean I am just not for Mr. Jacks."

Spinelli looked at her not to stop there, he motioned her to continue.

"I'm a friend of the pilot, he knew I had to be in Nashville tomorrow so he offered me to fly with him. It was so last minute that I didn't get a chance to change out of uniform and so when I saw you, you looked so lost and out of it that I just thought I'd repay Mr. Jacks and offer my services to you."

After hearing her very plausible story, he felt a little like a jerk and offered yet again another apology, "I'm sorry. Things haven't been going really well for me tonight and as a result I'm taking my anger out on everyone."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she smiled like she seemed really sorry to see such a charming guy down on his luck.

Spinelli nodded before looking to the window beside him, "Yeah well I wish I could say I didn't see it coming, but I did, in the back of my head I knew, I knew there was a chance she'd say no."

"No?" Iris asked what he meant as she fixed his drink.

Spinelli looked back at her, "I proposed and it's not that she isn't ready, she just isn't ready to settle down with me."

"Hmm, well maybe this will help?" Iris half smiled, raising the drink.

"Maybe, but I doubt it," he looked off to the window, staring blankly at the sky, "What do you think is worse? Marrying someone you don't love to avoid the look of disappointment when you don't measure up to their expectations or marrying someone you do love where you have to work at it everyday just to be happy?"

"No risk no pain? Is that it Damian?" She questioned, leaning her elbows on the bar, finished with making his drink.

"Answer the question and bring my drink."

She leaned off the bar, "If everything were easy life would be too simple."

"No, there are a dozen other women I could find a happy life with."

"Then why aren't you with them?" She asked as she set a napkin down on the table and then his drink, "Because you want her."

He was annoyed by her spot on analysis of him so he thought he'd make an assumption about her, "You don't strike me as the girl who believes in all that cliché stuff."

"I don't?" She laughed.

"No," he leaned over the table giving her a seductive grin, "So why don't you tell me what you really think."

"That is what I think," she pulled away and he touched her hand to keep her right in front of him, "No."

She was uncomfortable by his touch, not because the pilot might catch them in an intimate moment, but because she was attracted to his forceful behavior.

"That was a generalization, if that were what you really thought you would have said 'I believe, I think, I know…'" He lingered.

He smelled of alcohol and that's why she pulled away, "What does it matter what I think?"

"Because," he leaned back in his chair and ignored her obvious discomfort by his touch, "I want to know if all women think like my girl friend or if there's one girl out there who thinks you don't have to know someone to love them."

He didn't appear to be drunk, but she knew he had to be at some level. Why else would he be spilling his life to a stranger, a stranger who he seemed suspicious of? He was messing with her mind and that's why she changed the subject, she couldn't let him get to know her anymore "I have to go check on the Captain, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yeah, answer my question."

She looked at him like this was utterly pointless. _I don't even know the situation. It would be irresponsible of me to give advice about something as serious as love, wait, why am I even considering this? _That smug smile on his though, _fine,_ "You want to know what I think?"

"Yeah I do."

"Okay," she planted her hands on the armrests of the chair he was sitting in and leaned in,

"True love shouldn't be hard work. It should come easy to love someone, not be painful. Are you happy?"

"Yes."

She was expecting a rebuttal, a debate or an argument, something after their back and forth ranting and when he just dismissed the topic, she wondered if he did this just to get a rise out of her.

"Thank you Iris."

"Gah!" She turned away pissed and he realized his little game was perhaps not that funny.

"And I don't want the world to see me because I don't think they'd understand."

She stopped in her tracks wondering what compelled him to say such lines.

"When everything's made to be broken," it was a sign to him. Her name Iris, Iris like an eye to reveal things to him, which is just what tonight had done, opened his eyes.

"I just," she turned to him, finishing the verse, "Want you to know who I am."

He wasn't trying to trick her, he wasn't even trying to hit on her, he was just trying to show her that just because he acted like a jerk, didn't mean he was one.

"Your secret is safe with me. Thank you for the drink," he tipped his head to her before taking the glass in his hand.

"Um no problem Damian," she gave him a warm smile, "You should get some sleep, it'll be late when we arrive."

He noted her advice and then looked down to his drink, not wanting to tempt himself into talking to the exotic lady. When she left the cabin he raised the glass to his lips that were moist in anticipation for something to take the edge off. The alcoholic beverage seeped into his mouth and ran down his throat, giving him exactly what he needed. Closing his eyes, he found solace in what nothing else earlier in the night had been able to give him. Well that wasn't exactly true, he probably could have enjoyed his shots if Johnny hadn't been trying to talk him out of it.

_**You really think drinking is the answer?**_

_No_.

_**It isn't going to make it hurt any less!**_

He was right, it didn't.

_**Fine drink yourself to a hangover!**_

_I will._

He grimaced at the Martini knowing he should be trying to sober himself up, but with the depression of Maxie and now his mother, he really didn't want to feel anything for the next two hours.

"This is your captain speaking, we have light showers ahead of us, but should arrive in Tennessee on time."

Spinelli felt the plane moving and realized he needed to drink it before take off. Gulping it down, he instantly felt tipsy. He was going to call her name, but his mouth was paralyzed for some reason. He coughed, trying to breath, but it didn't work. He shook his head to shake off what he probably thought was a small panic attack, why he would be panicking he didn't know, but all it did was make him dizzy.

"I-rrrr-i-sssss," he slurred. _Focus_ _Spinelli, focus_, but he couldn't. Thump, thump, thump, his heart, beating…so…loud.

"Hel-lo?" He looked towards the curtain, but it remained still.

"Take this," he wavered the glass waiting for her or someone to take it from his hands, but no one did. He needed to free his hands to rub the neck that hurt, the shoulder that still ached, but in moving over to the table, pain shot up in his chest. The glass dropped from his hand, hit the edge of the table and descended off it.

"Damian?" Her voice distracted him from the glass breaking on the floor.

"Whaaaaaa-t hap?" She started to ask, but lost her voice in his fearful eyes.

"I…I have to get off this plane," he stood up, wiping his hands through his hair and then holding onto the strands in a panic.

"No," Iris walked over to him, "Sit down," she touched his chest, "You're okay."

"No, I'm leaving." He stepped beside her and the plane accelerated to a speed that caught them off balance. She fell into his arms and he lunged back into his seat. She wasn't a cliché girl, but there was something about tonight, about their bickering, about the way she fell into his grace, that made it impossible to take her eyes off Damian Spinelli.

"We're going to die," he breathed erratically, before looking to his left, _nothing_, then his right,_ nothing, no seat belt, _"Where's the seat belt?"

"Damian," she raised her hand, hesitant to cup his cheek.

"Where is it!" He looked in her eyes; too frantic to notice she was touching his cheek.

"There is nothing to be scared of."

"Yes, yes there is," he grabbed the armrests, cursing himself now. _Seventeen times safer than a car,_ yeah in a commercial airplane, but this was a private jet. _The odds of dying in a commercial plane crash are nearly a hundred times less than the odds of dying in a private plane crash. _He cringed as to why he didn't think of that sooner. Stupid connections, stupid egotistical self for wanting to tell people in the shit hole of a town he grew up in that he had flown in a private jet. When did he become a guy who wanted to show off such luxuries? Was there a chance that in this very moment he was over thinking everything? Yes, huge chance, but he ignored that part of his mind that was trying to control his compulsive thoughts.

"And now I'm going to die with her believing I don't love her…"

"Damian!" She grabbed him by the cheeks, unable to stand his ranting anymore. "Look at me! You are going to be okay."

"Nooooo," he shook his head vigorous.

"Yes," she moved into the seat next to him and then touched his hand, "You will be."

He looked at her weary, unsure if he could trust her, but then he saw the window behind her. He saw the airport vanish, he saw Port Charles vanish and thus he saw his Maximista vanish momentarily from his mind.

The black sky consumed the window and he drew his eyes back to the emeralds staring at him, "Looks like we're still alive Mr. Spinelli."

**------------------The Messengers message------------------**

"Well I should be with him!" Maxie quickly turned away from them with the intent to go upstairs and pack something.

"He doesn't want you _with_ him," the dark Zacchara voice stopped her.

Maxie slowly turned to him where he continued to be spiteful. "You…You know what he said when we asked him what we should tell you?" Johnny walked towards her, "You know what he said?" Johnny paused as he knew the words that were about to come out of his sinister mouth would hurt her, "What about Maxie?" He looked into her eyes not bothered at all by the hurt that was so plainly drawn in them now.

"Ah don't lie to her!" Ethan walked up to him, as did Dillon, who looked at her saying "He wanted to be alone."

"Don't lie to her!" Johnny grabbed Dillon's arm where Dillon glared up at him, "I'm not."

"Yes you are!" Johnny stared at him and then Ethan, completely appalled that he was the one being accused of a liar, "Don't you two paint a pretty little picture for her. Don't you tell her that _he really could have used her support, that he really loves her or that he would have come home _because the truth is…" He snapped at Maxie, "The truth is he didn't want us to tell you anything!" He wanted to quickly say 'he didn't' but her saw her eyes turn disbelief. As angry as Johnny was at her for the problems she caused he and Lulu, he deep down never wanted to be the bearer of bad news. He never wanted to be the one to tell her the truth because he knew it should have come from Dillon, a much closer friend than he or Ethan. "I'm telling you like it is Maxie," Johnny closed the gap between them, "He didn't want to tell you because he doesn't consider you in his life anymore."

She gritted her teeth in the aftermath of the filth he spoke. It was a fight. One discussion that went horribly wrong. Words that became twisted to mean things they would have never said to each other. Her tear-free eyes welled up again with every drop strolling down her cheek representing a piece to her broken heart. It was cruel to dismiss her from his life just like it was cruel to have wished he died on Pier 51. Anguish took over her hand, hurt that he felt that way about her, the blonde one, Maximista, the mother of his...child. She didn't know why, in this moment, she referred herself as that, but she wasn't going to figure it out now. Striking Johnny's cheek, she dared him not to say those words to her ever again because her Spinelli was anything but heartless.

"Max," Lulu called her name in shock, not at all supportive of what she just did.

Johnny stretched his jaw as his hand touched his sore cheek, "Hand getting a little weak Maxie?" He said to remind her of the two times she hit Spinelli.

"How could you say something like that to me?" Maxie whimpered, "Do you think I don't know how much I've hurt him? Do you think I don't know that he's angry and hates me?"

"He doesn't hate you," Ethan uttered from behind, rolling his eyes at the over dramatic situation Will Turner caused. "Maxie darling," Ethan walked up to her before removing his handkerchief, "No use crying over spilled milk."

"What?" Maxie hiccupped the tears in her throat.

"Don't worry it's clean," he said before wiping her tears and explaining what he meant, "Damian didn't want you or any of us for that matter to accompany him because this is a far more delicate situation than you or I will ever understand."

"What do you mean?" She touched his hand, wanting him to stop wiping her tears and explain just how 'delicate' of a situation this was.

He looked at her not wanting to answer, but Johnny repeated the same question with Lulu looking at him wanting to know too.

"Look guys, it's not my place…"

"Like hell it is," Johnny pushed him away from Maxie and removed his gun.

"Whoa," Ethan raised his hands before looking at Lulu to do something.

"Johnny! Put the gun down!" Lulu demanded before looking at Maxie who was very nervous, "Come on John, not here."

Johnny knew what she was asking and he couldn't grant her it because he didn't trust Ethan and he knew that Spinelli, deep down, didn't either.

"You know," Johnny shoved the gun under his chin, "I find it a little too much of a coincidence that you, all knowledgeable of Spinelli's family, are here the night his only living relative takes a turn for the worse."

Ethan looked at him loathing, but wasn't about to lose his cool over the man he would love to get into a fight with, "Come on Mate, you're upsetting Maxie here."

"Yes Johnny," Lulu agreed as she stood beside Maxie who wasn't appreciating the heightened anxiety.

"Tell us, his friends, what's really going on."

"I can't," Ethan looked over to Johnny, "It's not something he'd want me to tell you guys."

"Why?" Lulu asked gently, wrapping her arm around Maxie for support, "Ethan," Lulu called his name with her eyes hinting for him to say something to ease Maxie's mind.

"Max," Ethan tried to look at her but Johnny purposely made it difficult, "Hey pal!"

"Oh I'm not your mate anymore?"

"John," Maxie said his name, annoyed by their bickering that wasn't making her feel good, "Please…" She paused, closing her eyes for a brief moment, she felt her throat drying up and she knew that was a signal she was going to be sick.

"Maxie?" Lulu looked over to her, "You don't look so good."

She opened her eyes and stared at Ethan and Johnny, "If Spinelli doesn't want us to know then I don't want to knnn-o-w."

"Come on," Lulu saw her face turn pale, "I'll help you."

Maxie nodded, she couldn't believe she even considered going to Oakfield and being by his side when she was constantly feeling the illnesses of pregnancy. Negligence and selfishness is what it was and she felt bad she wasn't trying to do better for the baby. She walked with Lulu, who as they passed them, glared at Dillon to get control of the situation.

"See what you guys just did!" Dillon walked up to them, furious that their arguing had been about Lulu and not about Maxie or Spinelli, "Take your jealousy outside."

Johnny looked away from Ethan, "Your right, I'm sorry, I'll go put this away. Watch him."

"I don't need watching," Ethan retorted and Johnny disagreed completely. Spinelli didn't trust him as much as he let on and he hoped that Lulu would soon discover this. Johnny left the house with his phone in hand, "Hey Claud, it's me." He opened the car door and placed his pistol in the glove compartment, "Look can you do me a favor? Find everything you can on Ethan Lovett…Yeah I know it's a funny name, but he knows Spinelli and I think he's here to cause trouble for him...Yes and for me too, he stole Lulu…Claudia! I know you'd love more than anything for Lulu and I to end, but Ethan is a threat, a threat that needs to be eliminated. He showed up out of nowhere and I think he wants something from Spinelli. I don't know what! All I know is this is the last thing Spinelli needs at the moment."

---------------------------

To be continued…..

The plane lands and everything is not what it seems. Who is Iris? (Note: she's not a new love interest or anything, not exactly.)

Review! Thanks.


	37. The Landing

**Chapter 37**

**The Landing**

**------Observations-----**

Observation 1: Plane landed.

Observation 2: Still alive.

Observation 3: Broken glass gone.

Observation 4: Iris gone.

Observation 5: Pilot asking a question.

"Mr. Spinelli, are you awake?" The grey haired sixty-year old man asked.

"Ye-ah," he yawned before looking out the window, "What time is it?"

"A little after ten."

"Ok well," Spinelli stood up from his chair before losing his balance.

"Why kiddo, you look like you've been hit by a train," the pilot grabbed hold of him.

"Uh yeah," Spinelli grabbed his head, "Kind of feels like that."

"We better get you on your way," the pilot motioned and Spinelli looked at the seats remembering just two hours ago he had a panic attack of some sort.

"Yes, I really need get over to the hospital," he turned away from the memory that seemed so long ago, "I'll take a commercial flight on my way home."

"Oh nonsense, Jasper Jax said to be available around the clock. So whenever you're done, you call us and we'll arrange for another pilot or myself to fly you home."

Spinelli nodded, impressed that working for Jax had such perks, "Well thanks, but it's late." He set his hand on the pilot's shoulder and walked with him to the plane's exit, "Why don't you and the other pilot along with the flight attendant check into a hotel for the night? Fly me home around seven? How does that sound?"

"Uh sure Mr. Spinelli, but flight attendant?" He looked at him quizzical.

"Yeah," Spinelli looked away from him and motioned to the stairs, "Who ever made me that Martini," Spinelli snapped his fingers remembering her name, "Iris. Make sure she gets a little extra."

"But sir," the pilot looked at him with slight worry.

"Ah don't sir me, call me Damian," he patted the man's shoulder, "Now get some rest." He turned away from him and descended down the stairs.

The pilot nodded his head in confusion, he had flown Jasper Jack's plane for almost ten years and never was there a flight attendant on it.

"Captain?" A young black haired pilot walked up to him, "You ready to…everything okay?"

"That guy," the pilot pointed to Spinelli, disturbed, "He said there was a woman on this plane."

"Really?" He looked from Spinelli to the old man with a sly grin.

"Ye-ah, the only women I've ever seen on this plane are traveling with Jasper...His wife, Ms. Howard, Ms. McCall, Ms. Beret. Hmm, I'm going to have to call Mr. Jacks about this." The old man walked away puzzled by Spinelli's words.

"That won't be necessary," the jet haired man turned away from the stairs Spinelli had almost walked down and came up behind the old man with a cloth in his hand.

"Shhh," he took the chloroform cloth off his mouth and lied the man gently on the floor. As he looked up to the window to see where Spinelli was, he saw a passport and the perfect excuse to stop Mr. Spinelli.

"Mr. Spinelli!" He heard his name and turned around to see a much younger pilot descending down the stairs of the airplane. Spinelli stood on the tarmac too tired to meet him half way.

"Sir!" The young pilot stopped in front of him, "You left this on the plane."

"Oh my passport, thank you," Spinelli smiled at him with thanks and then turned away.

"Um."

"Yes?" Spinelli looked back at him.

"I'm sorry to bother you again, but what flight attendant were you talking about with the Captain?"

Spinelli looked at him confused as to how he could forget a woman like her, "The one with short curly red hair and green eyes."

When the pilot didn't seem to recall any such person matching his description, Spinelli began to question his state of mind. She seemed as clear as daylight. Emerald eyes. Firry hair. Pink carnations. She was real! He was sure of it. He felt her touch. He smelled her scent. He heard her sweet caring voice. He saw her figure. His senses all told him she was not a figment of his imagination.

"Perhaps you've had a lot to drink tonight?" The pilot suggested almost insisting that he stop trying to convince himself that such a woman existed.

"Um ye-ah," Spinelli touched his forehead before shutting his eyes. The last thing he needed was to lose grip on reality so for the pilot's sanity she remained in Spinelli's head only.

"Are you going to be okay Damian?" The pilot tried to give the impression he was afraid to leave him alone.

"Oh yeah," Spinelli assured him and then opened his eyes, "I'm just um…" And just as he was ready to forget her, he saw a flash of red hair getting into a black vehicle two hundred yards away near an airplane hanger.

"Tired?" The pilot filled in the blank.

"Ye-ah," Spinelli answered monotone, distraught by the sight of her that proved there was something very wrong around him. The corner of his eye saw the once concerned pilot growing agitated. "What are you look-ing at?!" The pilot turned and Spinelli quickly touched his shoulder to prevent him from turning fully.

"The stars Captain." Spinelli covered in a cool calmed voice.

"Co-pilot."

"The stars Co-Pilot," Spinelli repeated correctly and then wrapped his arm around the man and faced him to the airplane. He pointed up at the glorious black sky with enthusiasm, "You ever notice how the stars look the same everywhere you go?"

"Sure," the pilot said hasty.

Spinelli was amused by the pilot's dubiousness, "Well I guess it could be opened to a matter of opinion, but I just figured a pilot like you would know more about it than me." Spinelli looked down to him with a friendly smile that made the pilot uncomfortable.

"Perhaps you should be on your way, it's a been a long night and it's probably not going to end anytime soon for you."

"Why do you say that?" Spinelli tried to question him in a casual manner that didn't seem suspicious.

"Uh Mr. Jacks," the pilot came to a quick response where he then changed his unnerved expression to sympathy, "We wish your mother the best."

Once again Spinelli was humored, he had caught him in a lie. He never told Jax he needed the plane because his mother was dying, he said it was for a _family_ _emergency_. Spinelli half smiled and then looked up at the stars for guidance, but all he saw then was Maxie and Vista Pointe.

"Something I said Mr. Smith?"

Now that was eerie and way to convenient for his liking, _Spinelli_ doesn't get mix up with _Smith_, "What'd you say?"

"Something I said Mr. Spinelli?" The pilot repeated, looking at Spinelli like he was really losing it.

"Um no," Spinelli stared at him with no expression.

"You don't look well," the pilot motioned to the yellow cab that drove up, "Why don't you get into your taxi?"

He didn't call a taxi.

"You're right."

The pilot opened the car door, but not before making eye contact with driver. Spinelli peered into the cab to make sure there was no one other than the driver in it before taking a seat. The car door closed and Spinelli stuck his head out the window with a smile at the sky.

"You should really pay attention to those stars Co-pilot, they follow you everywhere you go, you can't get rid of them," he implied blatant that if he was more than a pilot then Spinelli was onto him.

"Take care Damian," the pilot dipped his head and the taxi exited the runway. Spinelli watched the pilot until he could no longer see him and then peered back into the cab.

The driver smiled at him in the rear view mirror, "How was your flight?"

"Good, sorry to drag you out here so late, I had no idea they were going to call a taxi for me," Spinelli watched to see how he would react to knowing that it was the people he flew with who made the arrangement, not him.

"Oh no big deal!" He spoke jolly, "It comes with the job."

"I bet it does."

"So where…"

"This place hasn't changed a bit," Spinelli interrupted as they drove passed a familiar plane hangar.

"Oh ye-ah?" The driver looked up at the rear view mirror, interested.

"Yeah," Spinelli looked at him, "I had a friend growing up whose dad had his own airplane. He'd take us out all the time. We swore when we were old enough, we'd take the plane ourselves and we did one day."

"When you didn't know how to fly?"

"We were trouble makers, not stupid!" Spinelli rolled his eyes while laughing, "My other friend had just got his pilot's license and so we took the plane without a second thought."

"And what happened?"

"We worked in this airport for the next three months of our lives, repaying for all the chaos we created."

"Ouch."

"Yeah," Spinelli smiled in a daze like it was just yesterday, "I know this area very well…eighteen years." And that was the point of the story, to establish that he was very aware of his surroundings and the driver better not think to even so much as take a 'short cut'.

"Ah I feel the same way about Jersey," the driver looked away from him, taking a deep sigh in remembering the place he grew up in. Spinelli watched him carefully, trying to see if his emotions seemed authentic and so far they did. He sounded so normal that Spinelli was starting to wonder if he was just completely paranoid about the pilot. "Lots of memories. Sometimes it's hard not to get wrapped up in them when you return, ya know?" He looked up at Spinelli who couldn't help, but agree.

"I'm sorry where are you headed?"

"County Hospital."

"Oh I know where that is, Elm Hill Pike right?"

"Yeah, about twenty miles then a right on Wilmot?"

"I believe so," he pulled onto the empty highway.

"Thanks, if you could just get me there as soon as possible, I'd really appreciate that."

"No problem."

Spinelli leaned back in the seat not sure of what to do at the moment. Talking was an irritation. Closing his eyes was letting his guard down. Looking out the window was opening him to the hurt that drove him out of this town in the first place. Sitting wasn't any good either. It was dangerous to let the mind drift and wander and think about things that were in the past, no matter if they occurred five years ago or four hours ago. _What's done is done_, Spinelli thought, _No going back._ That was when he thought of Jason, the man who hardly if ever spent a day dwelling on what coulda, woulda, or shoulda been said or done. _Never live in the past Spinelli, learn from it, but never live in it, it will eat you,_ words to live by.

**-----------------You've got a friend in me-------------------**

Claudia Zacchara looked out the window of her mansion in Milan, "I'm looking at it right here John, he and Spinelli used to be in _business _together."

"What kind of business?" Johnny asked discrete when he entered the Scorpio house.

Claudia swerved her leather chair back to her desk and grabbed her glass of wine, "The illegal kind."

"Claudia," Johnny rolled his eyes at her vague words.

"John," Claudia looked out at the sun starting to rise, "You woke me up very early to find information on a two bit con artist who used to run some software scam with Spinelli."

Johnny walked passed the living room, seeing Dillon and Ethan watching Pirates of the Caribbean, and entered the kitchen. He opened the door to the pantry and whispered, "Are you sure?"

"I only hire the best john."

"The best being Jerry Jacks?"

Claudia leaned up from her chair, "Johnny I got you your information. If you don't like it or trust it then get someone else to wake up at four in the morning and spend two hours of their time getting it."

"This can't be another mistake Claudia, there is something not right about this guy."

"Johnny I don't know what you're looking for. He's just a guy who Lulu happens to dig, I know that upsets you--."

"What upsets me is…!" He paused, thinking that he heard footsteps.

In the silence on the other end of the line, Claudia passed the time by drinking the rest of the wine in the glass. She looked down at its emptiness and frowned. _All gone_, she shook the glass wanting another serving. She turned to the desk and grabbed the family made, best selling Italian wine in the world, and filled up the glass halfway.

"John are you there?" She put the glass to her lips in waiting for his response where just as she arched the glass her fax machine started printing something.

Johnny stood in the kitchen doorway to see Dillon and Ethan still watching the movie. He needed a reason to be in there so he asked, "You guys want me to make some popcorn?"

"What's a movie without popcorn!" Dillon shouted like a typical film buff.

"Alright," Johnny walked back in the kitchen.

Claudia sipped the red wine as she read the new information Jerry faxed, "I think I just found your motive."

Johnny pushed the popcorn button and spoke back into the phone, "Give it to me."

Claudia sat in her chair and set the glass on the desk, "Ethan and Spinelli ran a five man con. Three of the five were murdered by Lorenzo Alcazar, including a girl, a girl who in the picture I'm looking at looked very close to this Ethan fellow."

"Hmm Spinelli said something about the two having a bad past, but he never said it was over a girl."

"Maybe it was about an action that resulted in a girl's death?"

"Maybe."

"Didn't Spinelli used to work for Alcazar before working for Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I'm looking at some bank records of deposited checks," Claudia stopped her finger and the logging of a certain name, "Lorenzo is the last person listed where it says the check was canceled."

"Maybe he canceled the check when he found out Spinelli was working for Jason?"

"No, Spinelli started working for Lorenzo in September, this transaction is in August."

"So…"

"So," Claudia looked up from the paper, "What if Spinelli and Ethan were conning Lorenzo and he caught on at the last minute?"

"So he canceled the check and kidnapped him for wanting to steal his money in the first place? Why didn't he kidnap Ethan and the rest?"

"Maybe they discovered their cover had been blown and went their separate ways."

"Or maybe they escaped his ambush."

Claudia was just about to consider his theory when she saw at the very bottom of the page a final banking transaction, "Or maybe they abandoned Spinelli."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a withdrawal for half a million dollars here John and in his name."

The popcorn stopped popping and Johnny hushed his voice as he opened the microwave door and grabbed the bag, "So they let him take the fall?

"Spinelli get's kidnapped and Lorenzo says you either work for me and keep your life or you can die for your friends."

"He wouldn't save people who betrayed him."

"Bingo. Alcazar's men go after Ethan and the girl dies."

"Spinelli and Ethan mentioned an eye for an eye. What if he's here to…?" Johnny stopped at the thought that he was here to kill Lulu or Maxie out of revenge.

"Don't let them out of your sight."

"I don't plan on it," Johnny looked at Ethan in the distance.

"You want me to fly in?"

"No, I can handle this."

"I could call Jerry."

"If I have him killed Lulu will know it was me."

"Well what about the other bitch, wouldn't Spinelli want us to protect her?"

"Yes, but I need to confirm with Spinelli that he's a threat, just fax everything you have at the house."

"Alright little brother, I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do thanks, goodnight."

"More like good morning," Claudia amused at the little light shining on her face.

"Sorry for waking you."

"It was for a good cause, goodbye," Claudia looked down at the paper, casually looking over it when she saw something that caught her interest, "Oh and one more thing John, I don't know what this is about, it's probably just another identity, but there's another name listed here…Rob Sutton."

He had almost forgotten that was also his name when Lulu told him to start referring him as Ethan instead of Rob. He knew as the night would go on the plot would thicken and that by the time he got home, everything he ever wanted to know about the back stabbing asshole would be revealed to him.

"Dillon," Ethan looked at the film expert, "Do you think I could be Johnny Depp's stunt double?"

"No."

"Aw why not?"

"Because…"

"Because," Johnny interrupted as he walked into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and three beers, "You have to be talented."

Dillon chuckled at Johnny's lame insult and looked over to Ethan, "You can't because Johnny does his own stunts." He took the beer and a handful of popcorn.

"Oh," Ethan grabbed his beer, "Well hey does your film need any stunt doubles?"

"Why?" Dillon stared at him cautious.

"Oh just looking for a job."

"Well," Dillon shrugged his shoulders, considering him until Johnny interrupted his thoughts, "Don't trust him Dillon, he'll rob you."

Ethan eyed Johnny not at all amused by the continuation of this, "Don't you think we should cool it tonight for Maxie pad in the bathroom?"

Just the way he cracked a joke about Maxie when he was so considerate of her earlier proved just how two faced he was, "I was just stating the facts. Dillon should know he'd be hiring someone like his step father." Johnny looked at Dillon who appeared confused, "He and Spinelli used to run a little scam."

"You know nothing about it, so why don't you stop pegging everyone against me and say what you want to say."

"You know more than your letting on Lovett."

"It's not my place to tell."

"Guys," Dillon looked at them not to get into this again.

"You keep saying that."

Lulu exited the bathroom down the hall and Dillon grew worried, "Hey cut it out," he looked at Johnny and Ethan, "She's coming."

Lulu walked into the living room, "What are you guys watching?"

"Pirates of the Caribbean a totally B rated film, I could have directed it way better, but eer how is she?"

"She's okay, she just wanted to be left alone for a few minutes," Lulu took a seat next Johnny which put a smile on his face.

"You're tired Lu," Johnny wrapped his arm around her.

"Maxie needs me, I can't leave, but I get it if you two and Dillon want to leave."

"No no," the three said back.

"Guys," Lulu looked at them like it was sweet they wanted to be here, "Maxie appreciates your concern, but I think it's making her feel a little overwhelmed."

"You want us to leave?" Dillon said what she was trying not to be mean about.

"Uh, ye-ah. We'll call you for coffee Dillon and Ethan," she grabbed her purse and took out the keys, "Why don't you pick me up in the morning?"

Now that Johnny knew for sure he was a thief, he wasn't sure if he could let Ethan take her car, but he didn't want to cause a stir. She chose to snuggle up with him for a reason and he wasn't about to make her regret it. If he never returned, Lulu would find out the truth and Johnny figured he could cheer her up by buying her a new car. Sounded like a plan to him.

"Thanks," Ethan caught the keys she threw at him, but was meanwhile confused as to why it appeared Johnny was staying.

"John," Lulu looked up at him with a smile.

"Looolooo?"

"Um," she paused letting out a short giggle at the way he said her name like his father, "Um have you heard from Spinelli?"

"No," Johnny shook his head wishing he had.

"Oh, I thought maybe he would have called you."

Johnny looked down at his watch, "Well he would have landed by now."

"Could you call him?"

"Lulu," Ethan spoke up, "If Spinelli wants to talk he'll call."

She knew he was right, "I just wish I had something to cheer Maxie up."

"You could just make sure she takes care of herself," Ethan suggested.

"I agree," Johnny looked up at Lulu, "Despite what he said to her, he was pretty down at Jakes."

"He was," Dillon added, "He was drinking shots and got into some fight with a doctor."

"Oh no," Lulu sighed, "He didn't."

"He did, but he was surprisingly a good sport," Ethan nodded his head in disbelief still at how Spinelli bought Matt a beer and then gave him some ice when he was done beating him up.

"Good sport, I'm not sure if I like the sound of this," Lulu looked at Dillon, who she knew wouldn't hold any details back.

"Oh it's nothing to worry over Lulu. The jackal was pretty fly," Dillon went on to explain what happened.

"Wow," Lulu looked up at Johnny who confirmed it was indeed the truth, "I can't believe it."

"Neither could I," Dillon said for he really did wonder what happened to the geek he met a year and a half ago.

"Well," Lulu started with a cautious tone until she heard the bathroom door open. She saw Maxie walk out and then looked back at the three guys not to say anything.

"Hey," Lulu smiled as Maxie walked around the couch and took a seat next to her, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm…fine," Maxie said but with something else on her mind, "Johnny…Ethan, I know I'm too weak to be there for him, but I still feel like he needs a friend."

Johnny laughed inside at the idea of Ethan being a friend to Spinelli.

"Maxie darling like I said, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?" Maxie asked curious as to why he kept saying that.

"Yeah why?" Johnny asked with a sly smile and Ethan looked at him in annoyance that he wasn't on his side anymore.

"When I knew Spinelli at NYU…"

"Whoa you went to college?" Johnny interrupted.

"Yes believe it or not."

"Ethan," Lulu looked at him to continue.

"Anyway, Spinelli spoke about his family with utter disgust. Saying it was sick and twisted."

"And you know why," Johnny looked at him to spill something.

"I do and he swore me to secrecy. He would kill me if I said something, especially to you." Ethan looked at Maxie very serious, "There's something much bigger happening here than you and your child. All I can say is that nothing is what it seems."

That was for sure, Johnny thought in terms of Ethan and his identity. Johnny only wondered what that meant in reference to Spinelli.

"But Ethan," Maxie asked with something still troubling her, "If this is as serious as you say it is, he still needs a friend."

"It," Dillon cleared his throat hoping to put her mind at ease, "Sounded like he will." He smiled with the intention to comfort her, not bring up the girl's name.

"Like who though?" She asked wanting to make sure that if she couldn't be there to take care of him that someone else was, "Jason?"

"No," Johnny was amused by her guess, "Don't you remember? He's not allowed to be friends with Jason."

"John!" Lulu raised her voice thinking his antics from earlier had gone away.

"What?" Johnny retorted back, "I just find it funny that she thinks it's okay now for him to turn to Jason, but it wasn't before."

"She was scared Johnny."

"No she wasn't, she just used a baby she didn't even want to change his whole life…"

"Johnny!" Lulu interrupted him from finishing his thought, "Can you show a little compassion for our friend or is that something beneath Zaccharas?"

"I guess it is," Johnny glared at her, pissed that because a little boy was in a coma he would always be seen dispassionate. He got up from the couch no longer interested in staying, "I'm sure Spinelli will call you if he needs you."

"Johnny don't go," Lulu instantly regretted her words.

"No I'm tired and since you two don't need me and since Spinelli according to Ethan doesn't need nor want our help, I don't really see the point of staying." Although he wouldn't leave completely, he still didn't trust Ethan, so he figured he'd sleep on the couch outside.

Lulu looked away from Johnny, fed up that he was leaving over this, "Johnny."

"You know I think I'm going to go too," Dillon motioned out of the sofa where he looked at Ethan to do the same.

"Ladies, I think I'm going to hit the hay."

"No," Lulu got up from the couch, "Don't leave on the count that Johnny wants to play the poor me card."

"What?" Johnny turned to her, "I'm not playing any cards."

"Then stay."

"What for? To see you shoot smiles at Ethan all night? Or take cheap shots at me for things you know I'm right about? Sorry, but I'm a little too pissed off at Maxie to sit around on her account." If Lulu hadn't taken the blame for Maxie's lies, Claudia would have never turned on her and therefore she would have never met Ethan and he would have never set himself up to lose Lulu in a game of pool like he did tonight.

"Pissed off at me?" Maxie stood up, "Because of Spinelli and Jason?"

"Yes, but also because your lies broke Lulu and I. You ruined more than just one life Maxie and you can't just bat your eyes and say you're sorry." He turned away until he thought of one more thing to get his revenge on her. "And you're a fool if you think that's going to work on Spinelli when he gets back, if he comes back at all. Like I said if Spinelli wants to talk he'll call, but I'm sure he'll get all the comfort he needs from Tammy."

**--------------The one that got away---------------**

When the taxi finally arrived at the hospital, Spinelli didn't take a moment to say goodbye. He threw a wad of cash down on the seat and told him he was never here. He walked into the hospital with his phone to his ear, "Is this nurse Mancini?" He asked before seeing the waiting area to his left and took a seat in the first chair he saw.

"No, but I'll put her right through."

He had wondered which one she was at the Nurses Station. There was a blonde one and brunette one. He was favoring the brunette remembering how all the boys in school teased her as Kelly Kawposki, the cheerleader on Saved By the Bell. To his surprise though, the dirty blonde took the phone.

"Damian?" She whispered.

"You changed your hair," he admired from a distance where he saw her blush and then do that thing she always did with her lip. She pushed her hair behind her ear and he sat there like he was in class.

"Green is hard to get out, where are you?" She looked around the ER and he looked away remembering why he was here.

"I'm not here for a reunion, where is she?" He knew it sounded harsh, but he remembered what the cab driver said "_lots of memories, sometimes it's hard not to get wrapped up in them when you return."_

"Good to see you too Damian, um, let me see," she turned to the computer, "I'm not her personal nurse."

"Your not?"

"No."

"Then why'd you call?"

She stopped typing and grabbed the phone that was pressed against her shoulder, "Because no body else would."

"Oh."

"And," she paused to look around the room where a sincere smile grew on her face, "because I thought you deserved to know."

"Thanks," he said while looking right at her.

"Your welcome," she gave him a warm look, "Nice hair."

He rolled his eyes, "Airplane hair and your stalling."

"Right," she turned back to the computer, "Third floor room 309."

"I owe you," he got up from the chair.

"No, you could have gotten this information yourself," she turned to the waiting room to see him no longer sitting there.

"That I could have," he hid behind a pillar now where the stairwell was in the corner of his eye, "But I didn't have a computer on me when you ca-lled."

"What?" She laughed as she looked around wondering where he had gone to, "Damian Spinelli not have a computer on him?"

"Goodbye Tammy," he started to pull his phone from his ear.

"Damian wait."

"What?"

"I think she wanted to contact you."

"What gives you that idea?"

"You're still listed next of kin."

"That doesn't mean anything," he disregarded the information for old people forget to change things like this all the time.

"Her husband isn't."

"Her husband is dead," he thought she meant his "grandfather".

"Not him Damian, the guy she married a few months ago."

"She got remarried?"

"Ye-ah, I thought you knew."

"No," he sounded annoyed because he hated feeling out of the loop not because he really cared she re-married.

"Damian?" She ended the long silence, "You there?"

"I like your hair," he hung up and walked to the door that showed the stairwell picture.

She called his name and then redialed the number, but the time she heard his ring tone, he was gone and the stairwell door was closing.

**------------------True colors of the Fed and the double agent---------------------------**

Oakfield county hospital wasn't much different from Port Charles General Hospital, Spinelli decided as he wandered the shadowed halls. He looked at each room hoping the number 309 would appear and when it didn't he became more determined to find it. In the airplane and the drive over, he hadn't figured out what he was going to say to her if he was even going into her room at all. The dim lit hall diverged into two paths. He could continue straight or take a left. He looked to his right and saw room 308, so room 309 was close, but where? Common sense told him to keep walking, so he stepped forward only to be blinded by a bright light from a door opening on his left.

"I'll be right back peaches."

_Peaches._

A traveling salesman often called his mother _peaches_. He pressed his back against the wall and listened as the lights went off and the door closed. The man's footsteps neared around the corner and Spinelli held his breath in fear of being seen.

"Sir."

Saved by a voice, a much younger voice.

"He's here."

The man turned around and Spinelli closed his eyes in relief.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, our contact on the plane…"

Spinelli tuned out and praised himself for being right.

"Do we know who contacted him?"

Spinelli tuned back in hoping he didn't get Tammy in trouble.

"No, but we're working on it."

"Eh it's not important, where's the boy now?"

"Weeeeell that's the thing."

"You lost him Pivens!?" The man raised his voice before stomping towards him, "Did I not tell you how important it was for you to keep tabs on him!"

Spinelli peered around the corner to see this 'Pivens' just as upset, "I know!"

"Well if you knew, you wouldn't have let him out of your sights! Ah," he backed away, "This is very unbecoming of you."

Pivens dropped his shoulders, disappointed in his self, "Sir I did have people waiting for him to hack the hospital's computers, but he never tried."

"Of course he didn't try! Rule number one agent, never expect the target to leave a trace where he's most expected to leave one!" The man walked away frustrated by his incompetence.

Spinelli looked away, but kept his ears open.

"Pivens, her son, my step son for god's sake, learned from the best at keeping a low profile."

"So what do you want us to do?"

"He'll be looking for a way in."

"We could alert security?"

"No those fucking idiots will create panic, he's a criminal not a terrorist. The fewer that knows about this the better."

Spinelli looked around the corner to see Agent Pivens watching the old man pace back and forth in thought, "Sir if you don't mind me asking, why can't he have just a few last moments with his dying mother?"

"She's not dying!" He snapped, stopping in place.

"Richard," the agent lost his professional tone and spoke to him like a friend, "Stage four brain cancer."

Spinelli was never told on the phone what his mother was dying of. Turning away from the scene, he leaned his head on the wall and wondered what shape she was in. It was then he began to concern himself with the idea if she would even be able to recognize him, talk to him, and see him. If she couldn't, could he live with that? Live with their last memory being that of hate and despair?

"She's blind in one eye, she can't eat or carry on a conversation without getting confused or sleepy, she has no control over her bodily functions, she loves you one minute and the next...Richard, it's not her anymore."

The thought of his mother being anything, but bitter and grumpy, was something he would love to have seen. Spinelli's hands spread against the cold wall as his eyes filled with tears. There wasn't a time he didn't hate her, but there was a time he never wanted any harm to come to her. _They know where my granny is and she's the only one that's ever really given a damn about me. _Although he never won her approval or love or any type of heartfelt emotion, he knew they existed within her. To the neighbors, the Friday night knitting club, the churchgoers and his first stepfather, she was a great woman. Spinelli looked around the corner again to see Richard leaning his back against the wall opposite to the hospital room.

"You can't save her," Pivens touched his shoulder.

"The treatment will work, we just have to give it time!"

"You heard what the doctors said, she's barely hanging on."

"If this is when you say she's hanging on for him, agent Pivens…"

"I'm not…"

"…Because if she can hang on for that little shit then she can sure as hell hang on for her husband! You know the man who would take away the pain if he could!"

"I know."

"I'm sorry Pivens," he sniffled.

"The Bureau will understand if you want to resign."

"Are you kidding me?" He leaned off the wall, "If she dies, all I'll have left is my career!" He walked to the window and looked in on his wife's room, "Now the doctors tell me she has at least one more day left in her." He placed his hands on the windowsill, "If she's dead before then, I will find Damian Spinelli and personally hold him responsible."

"You can't do that Richard!"

"I am the director of the FBI!" He grabbed Pivens by the collar, "I can do whatever I want!"

Silence fell between them as Pivens stared at his boss in shock and Richard stared at his young agent completely lost. Spinelli looked away from them and closed his eyes. He felt the weight of his decision now. What if the old bag was waiting for him? What if she croaked the minute he left? Would his stepfather really come all the way to Port Charles to arrest him? Could he face Maxie if the FBI did come after him? These were the questions running through Spinelli's mind at the moment. Was the freedom of guilt and pain worth the trouble? Spinelli seemed to think so.

"I'm…I'm sorry," Richard let go of him, "I just..." He turned away from his co-worker, ashamed that he took his anger out on him, "I just know if she sees him, she's gonna die."

"Rich," Pivens tried to reach out to him, but the man walked away somber, "Richard!"

The old man stopped reluctant. He glanced in the agent's direction and struggled with the words he was about to say because he knew they were that of desperation.

"Find him, kill him if you have too."

"You can't be serious," Pivens objected, believing this was something up for discussion still, but Richard walked away, dismissing his convictions, "DIRECTOR!"

"Agent Pivens!" Richard came to a quick stop, "Lower your tone."

"Fine!" Pivens stormed up to him, "But let me make sure I understand correctly, you're asking me to kill an innocent…"

"He's NOT INNOCENT!" Richard screamed, "He's a criminal and I will not have my wife spend the last moments of her life with a man who stands for the very thing I vow to bring down."

"So what? You want me to tell every agent to kill him on sight? Do you know how big of a deal he is in Port Charles?"

"It's time we send organized crime a message."

"No Richard," Pivens grabbed his arm, "He is that community's savior."

"Oh don't be ridiculous!" Richard tugged away wanting to laugh, but Pivens tightened his grip.

"He prevented a mob war, he saved the commissioner's only living daughter, not to mention he just donated a whole sum of money to the hospital that saved his life! He is a hero in their eyes. The first sight of hope that town has seen in months if not years, you take away their hero and you are going to have more than just the mob painting a target on your back."

Although Spinelli had refereed to himself as a hero in his fight earlier with Maxie, he never dreamed that he had this type of influence. Such power interested him.

"Agent Pivens," Richard pulled away from his grip not at all moved by his speech, "I expect you to deal with THIS."

"So you expect me…" He loath talking about such an unnecessary order, "To kill him then?"

"Or I'll get somebody else to and recommend them for promotion," Richard threatened before turning his back to him and walking away.

Pivens huffed in frustration of the man he once looked up to. As his boss walked passed his wife's room Agent Pivens couldn't help, but try one more time to remind him of the man he was supposed to be.

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," he spoke the oath.

Spinelli heard Richard's footsteps near and used the knowledge of every stealth action video game he ever played and the training from Stone Cold to remain unseen. Still as a dead body, quiet as a mouse, Spinelli eyed like a hawk, his stepfather just coming around the corner.

"THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE," Pivens raised his voice in hope that he would listen to him and to Spinelli's annoyance, he did, Richard came to a slow stop in the diverging hallway.

Pivens smiled at the small victory and pressed on, "In faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion."

Spinelli heard his voice grow louder and knew he must be coming towards them. He knew there wasn't anything he could do now without attracting attention so he prayed this little heart to heart of theirs would end soon.

"And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter," Pivens stood behind Richard, "Sssss…"

"So help me God," Richard finished as if something had been instilled in him again.

Spinelli wasn't sure how much longer he could hold his breath, not only because his throat was clogged with tears, but also their close proximity had made him feel claustrophobic. Ever since he spent nearly a month of his life in a hospital being told what to do, not to move, not to talk or think and just follow doctor's orders, he couldn't stand being in that type of controlled environment. Not being able to move, breathe or think in this very moment irritated him more than finding out his stepfather wanted him dead. People had wanted him dead ever since he started working with Jason; Alcazar, Mr. Craig, Anthony Zacchara, occasionally Sonny, hell sometimes his mother seemed to want him dead. Death was a part of life, a force that almost took him two months ago. There was no reason to fear it for as one of his high school teachers once put it '_you are dying from the moment you are born' _so death was unavoidable. Why run from it? This though was an avoidable situation that he could have run from if he wasn't so damn intrigued by every little thing he heard from their mouths. His stepfather was a fed, which not only made things awkward for his line of work, but for Spinelli too. What would Jason think of him? Would he think he was some informant? Could one of the many friends he's made turn foe? Thank god his stepfather hated him enough to want to him dead. That was perhaps the only card he could play to the sharks of organized crime, if his immediate family hated him then why would he help them? Nothing to worry about right? Wrong. Spinelli had everything to worry about as he saw the old grey haired man seem to make a decision on what he wanted to do.

"I want a report on Mr. Spinelli's whereabouts by the time I get back," he turned the corner walking right in front of Spinelli none the wiser that the son he abhorred had been standing less than a foot away from him.

"Uh yes sir," Agent Pivens uttered and then turned back down the hallway he came.

_What's that supposed to mean?_ Spinelli asked himself. Was there going to be an attempt on his life or not? Should he call for guards or should he use this time now to say goodbye and then doing a disappearing act? Spinelli would have loved to contemplate the issue with his conscience longer but was flustered by the sound of a phone ringing.

"Agent Piv-ens," he stuttered, distracted by having heard a ring tone fairly close by.

Spinelli silence his phone to see the call was from his Maximista, even when she wasn't around she was getting him into trouble.

"Uh hold on Fris," Pivens crept passed the room to the diverging hall only to see a nurse walking by talking on her phone.

Spinelli hid behind a trashcan near room 308, smiling at Tammy's perfect timing.

"Hey I'm just calling to let you know I'll be done early tonight."

Pivens watched her proceed down the hall and then spoke back into the phone, "Sorry sir." He turned away giving Spinelli just the opening he needed to crouch from the trash can and listen in on the phone call.

"Um I'm not any closer than I was before to getting his resignation…I am trying! But things have changed! He's gone from devastated to desperate. How desperate? Well he's got himself convinced if her son sees her, she'll die from a heart break or something."

Spinelli leaned himself against the wall where he heard Pivens laugh, "I know he's become borderline lunatic sending agents out to follow this guy and now he wants us to _kill _him…I wasn't going to, but if you want Richard for yourself, carrying out the code red would be the quickest way."

_Code Red? Who the hell was this guy? Did Richard even know?_ Spinelli asked himself for it sounded like Agent Pivens was working for someone else other than the FBI.

"Why do you need him alive? Oh I didn't think you…Right sorry sir. Look resignation is completely out of the picture now, we either set him up or let his hate for Damian Spinelli get himself fired."

Spinelli peeked around the corner to see if he could get any closer, but couldn't. Whoever this man was on the other line would have to remain a mystery for now.

"Yes sir, I understand sir, it will be taken care of, I'll call you when it's done."

_When what's done? _

"This is Agent Pivens, I am under a direct order to cancel all further pursuit of the target. The director is ashamed of his behavior and would like nothing else if no one was to speak about this ever again. I am relieving you of your duty. Have a nice night." The agent hung up, thought for one second and then exited the hallway the same way he came in ten minutes ago.

Spinelli looked around the corner to see the agent long gone and then let out a deep breath of relief.

"Fuck," he looked away and leaned back on the wall. His hands covered his forehead and then ran through his hair as his mind tried to get a grip on what just happened. He had been _this_ close to the feds discovering him and this _close_ to being dead by them. It was a rush that he hadn't felt in a long time. To be safe one minute and then in danger the next in such a brief moment in time was a thrill, an excitement, a feeling that made him alive. He looked around the corner again to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him and when he saw an empty hallway, he huffed once more in disbelief that he overcame such a potentially life threatening situation.

"Shit Spinelli," he talked to himself, "You have got to get out of here," but he couldn't leave without seeing her.

**------------Streets of Philadelphia er Oakfield---------------**

He knew Richard was adamant about him seeing her, but Spinelli didn't believe he had enough influence on her life to end it. He entered her room when he felt the coast was clear. Leaving the lights off to avoid waking her up, he quietly shut the door behind him and walked to the foot of her bed. The last thing he wanted to do was put her in any more discomfort than she was already in. He heard the machines working to help her breathe and knew she must really be on her final bed. He knew it was Richard's idea to keep her here, here on earth that is because she would have never wanted to be seen like this; weak and unable to care for her self. He strolled to her bedside with his hands in his pocket, almost afraid to see her, to see what this disease had done to her.

_I was bruised and battered and I couldn't tell what I felt_

He slid his hand over his mouth.

_I was unrecognizable to myself._

He would never wish this on her. Never. He would never wish her to have a grossly thin face or hair that wasn't hers. He would never wish her to have no use for her favorite glasses, her glasses that she went to bed with every night hanging on a chain around her neck, her glasses that were now gone just like her.

_I saw my reflection in a window I didn't know_

She took care of him when he had been sick, of course the chicken pox and the flu were different, but hell, had she called, he would have came. Why didn't she call? Huh? Why not! He would have taken her somewhere, anywhere just so that no one could see her waste away like this.

_My own face_

…Displayed that of a son having compassion for his mother.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you."

His knees gave out and he collapsed in the chair behind him. Cupping his cheek, he stared at the sleeping figured and thought hard about the things he wanted to say to her and the things he wanted her to tell him.

"You're uh husband is a real piece of work, I haven't had the _privilege_ of meeting him, but I'm sure I will," Spinelli kid and then realized perhaps this was not the scene to be cracking jokes. He wiped his hands through his hair, taking a quiet deep breath, and then formed his hands into a fist over his mouth.

_You know what's worse than you lying to me? You know what's worse? That you're my mother! Ahh! You know how sick and twisted that is!_

_Damian no, your father's enemies would have kidnapped you or killed you, you were all I had left! I love you!_

_No! Let's get this straight Miriam! You know what you did? You let a little boy hate himself for your mistakes!_

_No you wrong!_

_Shut up! I'm not finished! What you did wasn't love, lying isn't love it's betrayal! _

He opened his mouth wanting to say something that reflected the last moment they were together, but stopped himself. She didn't love him like she claimed and it wasn't fair to excuse everything she had done because she was dying. At the same time though, he didn't come here to blame her for it because all the decisions she made in turn affected the decisions he made. He might not have met Jason, Lulu or even Maxie if it weren't for her and in that case, he couldn't hate her.

"I don't hate you, I want you to know that," he lowered his hands from his mouth and looked at them. He rubbed his knuckles, staring at his palms, not sure of what to say next.

"I...I know you don't like me. Truth is a lot of people don't like me. I don't even like me at the moment." Spinelli frowned, thinking back to his fight with Maxie with the things he said and the things he did haunting him. He cleared his throat in a quick manner before scooting his chair forward. "You um, you once told me that love is complicated and it's messy and it's a whole lot of things that you don't expect...I never thought I would say this, but I understand now. I understand when you say it never pans out the way you want it to." Now that he knew the truth about Maxie, how she really felt about the baby he thought they had created out of friendship if not love, he knew that all his dreams of their future would be nothing more. He refrained from touching her hand, not wanting to disturb her deep sleep, and touched the bed instead. With his hand resting on the bed, his other covered his eyes, "I'm not the man I thought I was, but you always knew that."

He looked down at the floor until he felt something touch his hand. He pulled away and glanced up at her, "I thought you were asleep!"

"Well you woke me child."

"I'll go," he parted from the chair, not wanting to upset her.

"Get back here boy."

Spinelli looked at her wondering if she really meant her words and the longer he waited to believe her the more frustrated she got, "Just because I'm too weak to swing that belt, doesn't mean I won't get it."

He half smiled, she might not want to show her true self to Richard, but she sure couldn't resist showing herself to her son.

"Come on," she motioned with her hand, "You and I have things to talk about."

"We do?"

"We do," she enthused, "Your father, your confidence problem and this girl that's troubling you, that doesn't leave us much time before Richard gets back."

He stood near her bed, feeling like this was a trick, "On one condition."

She huffed, "Is everything always a business proposition to you?"

"Mother," he said with agitation.

"Okay," she backed off, "What do I have to promise you?"

He strolled to her bedside and looked directly at her, "You don't die until tomorrow afternoon, if that is you have to die at all."

"Deal."

He was pleased by her quick answer. For the first time in his life, she seemed to actually want to know her son. Taking her hand, he leaned forward to kiss it, "Hello Miriam."

She welled up and pulled him into a hug that made Spinelli realize just how much he was missed, "Hel-Hello Dam-i-an."

------------

Next Chapter: The journey home. Spinelli makes a decision after what he discovers about himself.

Review! Thanks!


	38. The Journey Home

Chapter 38

Author's Note! Why hello! I know it's been months since I've updated, but it's finally here! I'm not sure if anyone still cares anymore, I'm sorry it took so long, but I've been really busy with film and school. I'm in the process of completing my first mob film, writing my first feature and in pre-production of starting my own show on my college's campus. I'm also editing one of my first semi-serious documentaries. So I really haven't had time to write fanfic, but oh do I miss it! In that case if you love what your read or if you don't lol in any case review! I don't mind writing, but if I'm not going to get any reviews then I'm not going to spend the time. I made the chapter a little long to make up for the lack of fanfic. Anyway please review! It sometimes really makes my day! Thanks!

**The journey home**

**-The Answers he had been waiting for-**

Spinelli walked away from the hospital when as he approached the curb to cross the street, he looked at the building one last time.

_After you leave here, go to Oakfield Tree Postal Office._

_It's almost midnight, unless it's a 24 hour..._

_It is. Damian, I always knew a time like this would come. Everything you ever wanted to know about who you are is in the box._

The information he needed was written on a little piece of paper in his pocket all he needed was transportation.

_Don't wait till I die to go there, Richard will have obtained it faster than you can hack into the FBI. _

_What's in there?_

_Like I said, everything you ever wanted to know. _

He felt complete in a way that a woman or a child or even the perfect career could ever fill him. By the end of the night he'd get the answers he'd been waiting his entire life for.

_Here is the key, now you better go. _

_What if he's already got there?_

_I don't believe he has, but if so and Damian, I mean if so as in there is nothing in there and you desperately wish to know who your father is, call this number 212-678-0124. _

_Whose number is this?_

_Don't ask me that now._

_Well don't you think I need to know who he is before…_

_Your uncle._

_Uncle?_

This was the only thing he was scared of, how much more of his life was a lie? Would the answers he desperately needed be worth shattering what life he had left?

_Damian I want you to know that I love you, but this is just the first of many lies I've told to protect you from the line of work you found on your own. _

_I quit the mob._

He didn't know why quitting the mob would have been because of a girl, but it made her happy to know it apparently was the truth.

_I don't even know her and I like her. She got you to do what I could never convince your father to._

_She's kind of like you…puts up a lot of walls around her heart._

_Then let me give you a little advice, do everything you can to prove you're not like the rest, that'll you never hurt her._

_I believe your advice is a little too late._

_You and I both know it's never too late and you used to believe that._

_I don't know how to show my face with the things I said to her. _

_You want to know how to make it right?_

_Yes, please._

_You come home and I say, I'm sorry._

He remembered hugging her after that and the soft cries she let out at the years they lost and would never get back. He comforted her in the only way he knew how, shushing her that it was okay that the only thing that mattered was this moment. He turned from the hospital to see a bench carefully hidden in what he soon realized was a park that wrapped around the hospital. He sat down, relaxed his arms on it and let himself be consumed by its tranquility. General Hospital needed a place like this, a place for patients and family to lose their thoughts to nature. In the crickets chirping and the water running into a pond of turtles and fish, he could hear him think again. He spent minutes on end reviewing the night. It was like the song he listened to in the cab…

_our lives are made in these small hours_

_these little wonders, these twists & turns of fate_

_time falls away, but these small hours,_

_these small hours still remain_

How true.

In the reflection of the night he saw these moments…these moments of how precious life is…how easily it can be taken away and how easily it can be given. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. It would be short, but bittersweet.

**-Say goodnight not goodbye-**

Maxie was lying on her bed watching Sex and the City when Lulu walked in with a glass of water and saltine crackers.

"Are they gone?"

"Almost," Lulu closed the door with her back, "Well Dillon and Ethan are."

"Johnny's not gone? I was sure he left after he designated me as the reason you two broke up," Maxie looked away from Lulu knowing in some part it was true.

"First Johnny is sleeping on the couch in the front yard."

"He's not!"

"He is! And second, Johnny and I would have broken up anyway."

"Some how I don't believe that," Maxie frowned feeling the affects of her selfishness. Johnny was right. She had ruined lives tonight and over the past two months with her lies. For the first time in a while she was ashamed of herself.

"Well," Lulu leaned off the door wanting to change subjects because there was nothing more either of them could do about Spinelli and Johnny. The damage had been done and all they could do now was get some rest and hope tomorrow things would be better, "How was your shower?"

"Okaaaay?" Maxie looked at her as if was any other shower. "Lulu, what is…" She noticed the crackers more so than before, "Seriously?"

"You need something on your stomach."

"Just so I can throw it up?"

Lulu chuckled, amused by Maxie's sarcasm, "That's how morning sickness works."

"Well it sucks," Maxie looked back at the TV.

"You've only got a month left of it you know," Lulu joined her on the bed, "You body is just adjusting to…"

"Having an alien in it?" Maxie cut off, crossing her arms with annoyance at feeling sick all the time.

"I was going to say baby, but if you say so. I'm pretty sure Spinelli could love a green Martian."

"Shut up," Maxie rolled her eyes.

"Hey at least Halloween would be taken care of."

"I was joking."

"Spinelli could make one of those flying saucer things."

"Okay Lulu give it a rest."

"Would you paint your face green? I know Spinelli would, but I'd pay money to see you do that."

"Lulu!"

"Aunt Lulu would be like the mother of all Aliens."

"Oh for the love of god," Maxie turned to the glass of water on her nightstand where she tried to keep a straight face as Lulu ranted.

"I'd have Dillon talk to his sci-fi make up people and," and then her phone rang and Lulu stared at the name flashing on the screen.

"It's him."

"Well answer it!" Maxie looked at her desperate to talk to him.

"Right," she pushed the speaker button, but looked at Maxie not say anything yet, "Hey Spin."

"Heeeey," Spinelli said sounding tired to his girls on the other line.

"How…" Lulu started to ask, but Spinelli interrupted, "Am I?"

"Sorry, I…"

"Lulu…" He paused heavily, his sighs leaving Lulu and especially Maxie distressed.

"It's okay."

"It's NOT okay!" Spinelli raised his voice. He leaned up from the chair pacing yelling out all the things in his life that weren't okay, "And it's certainly not okay that I thought I could go five years without speaking more than five words to her!"

"Spin…"

"No, don't sugarcoat it Lulu, I abandoned my only family."

"You didn't know," Lulu said with a little hesitance for she expected him to lash out, but instead the line went quiet. In the seconds he didn't say anything, she offered the comfort that Maxie wanted to offer Spinelli at the moment.

"But I did," his three words broke their bondage apart, "I knew. I knew Lulu and I didn't lift a finger to help when I knew I could." Spinelli grabbed roots of his hair and then fell back onto the bench, "That morning Maxie and I stayed at the Metro Court, I got a message from the white knight, from Stone Cold and from the hospital."

They knew the guilt was bad when he started to bring back the nicknames.

"The Jackal is that of his master, cold."

"Oh come on Spinelli," Lulu thought his comparison was ridiculous, "Don't do that to yourself."

"Why not? It's the truth. Instead of being compassionate, instead of putting Maximista and the…instead of the Jackal facing his demons he ran away and look what that got him."

Was the Jackal back? It almost appeared that way.

"…You know if the Jackal had left that morning for Oakfield, he would have never gotten into an argument with Maximista or become the godfather or gotten into a fight with the Commissioner sir. Everything would be soooo different now Lulu..."

And now he was gone.

"Um Lulu?" Spinelli asked for her as he cleared his throat of his bitterness.

"Ye-ah?" Lulu looked away from Maxie who couldn't handle hearing the misery in his voice and the anguish he felt over his mistakes.

Lulu looked away from Maxie to the phone, her thoughts still concerned with her friend who was having a hard time hearing such distress in his voice and not being there to console him.

"Is uh, is she okay?"

Lulu glanced at Maxie with a smile of hope that perhaps Spinelli wasn't as down or regretful as he initially appeared, "She's doing okay, tired, but I think she'd feel a lot better if you talk to her."

"Uh I don't know."

"It was a fight Spinelli, not goodbye."

It was then he heard wrestling in the bushes. He turned his attention, weary, but saw nothing but a crow step out.

"Um I should be going," he looked away from the bushes.

"Spinelli wait."

"No I don't want to wake her…"

"You won't be," Lulu looked at Maxie for her to say something to keep him on the line.

He heard the sound again.

"I think that would be a bad idea."

"No," Lulu picked up the phone and motioned it to Maxie.

"You know why I didn't leave Lulu? Dr. Lee said for her to take it easy, I thought I could be the one to make things…easy for her and I think tonight just proved that maybe I'm not what she needs, maybe I never was."

His words brought tears to her eyes. The loss of confidence he had in them in just a few hours made her wonder just what kind of shape he'd be in when she'd see him again.

"Spinelli are you coming back tonight?" Lulu asked feeling like that was perhaps the most important question, for Maxie could stay calm if she knew he'd be home in a few hours.

"I don't want to hurt her anymore."

"You're not hurting me."

"Goodnight, sweet dreams."

He said it to her every night: the hospital, her room, the metro court and the penthouse. Oh how she wanted him here to tell her that in person, to be right next to her with his arms around her and whisper it into her ear. Maxie lied her head down on the pillow, her back to the phone, wishing this had all been a dream.

**-Once a mobster always a mobster-**

_You're not hurting me._ Had she been listening the entire time? Spinelli lowered the phone from his ear wondering this when he heard footsteps. He hadn't looked over his shoulder for more than half a second when a fist slammed into his cheek.

"I'm going to tell you this once Damian, you stay the hell away from your mother!"

Richard. Spinelli rolled on his back on the grass holding out his hand, "Nice to meet you too dad."

"That's Step dad to you son!" Richard pushed his hand out of the way and kicked Spinelli repeatedly in the stomach.

The pain wasn't so much the reason why Spinelli wanted Richard to stop. Yeah it hurt and it didn't help that he was still recovering from his fall off the staircase, but he could take the pain. What he couldn't take was returning home and having his Maximista ask him questions he couldn't answer.

"The last thing your mother needs…"

"Okay," Spinelli waved his hand in defeat, "I…"

"What?" Richard bent down to him and grabbed Spinelli be the face, "Speak up."

Spinelli stared at him having no idea what was keeping him from fighting back, "I'll… leave."

"Good," Richard nodded with a big smile, "Because the last thing your mother needs is to be reminded of how she failed you."

"You mean," Spinelli held his breath as he leaned up from the grass, "How I failed her."

Richard stood poised in front of Spinelli, analyzing his stepson's behavior, "Wow, I expected a fight out of Morgan's best solider, but I guess I was wrong, here…" Richard helped him off the ground.

Spinelli was thrown off by his behavior. He knew from the conversation he over heard earlier that the man had a good side to him as well as a vulnerable side. This was a mixture of both, Spinelli knew he was being played, he just didn't know from what angle.

"Maybe when she's stronger we can arrange something," Richard patted him on the back and then turned away, not another word.

Spinelli held his side as his stepfather, the director of the FBI, walked away. "Or," Spinelli spoke up stopping Richard in his tracks, "Maybe her only living son can tell her that despite never seeing eye to eye on anything that he's sorry this happened to her."

"Or," Richard turned around to face him, "How about I relay the message?"

"I think she'd rather here it from me."

"Look Damian," Richard approached him, sliding his hands into his pocket, "I get you want to make amends, but the simple fact is you can't. You broke your mother's heart when you left four years ago and then you came back only to leave her again, giving her false hope of fixing things between you two."

"She lied."

"Haven't you lied?"

"She kept me from…"

"She protected you."

"She still lied."

"And so what? How would your life have been better with a mob boss for a father and juvenile delinquents for a brother and sister?"

"I don't know, maybe it wouldn't have, but I should have had the right to know who I am!"

"Your right!" Richard yelled, "You should have gotten to know your family, but you didn't." Richard nodded his head, disappointed in how the situation went down over twenty years ago, "And I'm sorry, but that's a fact you are going to have to accept."

"No."

"Yes," Richard stepped closer to him, "Yes you will accept it and you will understand that this business you have with Morgan and Corinthos and Zacchara isn't going to connect you to them or bring you closer to who they were because they were bad criminals who hurt innocent people and I know you aren't like that!"

"Oh you do? You know who I am?"

"Yes, I think I do a little," Richard half smiled, "And I think you and I could do great things together."

_So that's what this was about, _"You want me to work for you?"

"I want you to be my informant, help me bring down the bad guys and I'll…"

"What? You'll do what for me director?" Spinelli asked even though he had no intention of selling a single piece of information about Jason or his friends to him.

Richard shrugged his shoulders, "Oh I don't know, help you score points with Mac Scorpio?"

Spinelli rolled his eyes, but Richard looked serious, "He and I go back."

"I don't need help scoring points with the commissioner."

"Oh you don't? Not for his daughter's sake?"

"Well actually his daughter and I are in the process of breaking up so I don't think having him suddenly approve of me is going to help."

"Okay then what about a free pass to see your mother?"

Was he serious? Spinelli broke out laughing, "Wow, things must be real bad for you at the Bureau if your allowing me to see my mother which is a right I already have in return for information on an alleged criminal."

"So I'm guessing that's a no, your going to chose business over family?"

"Go ahead say it," Spinelli knew the operative word of emotion displayed on his face, disappointment.

"I don't think I have to, have a nice life Damian," Richard walked past him, "Oh and…" He turned around, "I'll have my men arrest you if you try to get in so walk away like a man."

"You mean like a coward?"

"Ha," Richard stopped, amused by Spinelli's suggestion, "Don't you mobsters live by some kind of code? I believe its called respect."

"I'll respect a man when I see one worth respecting."

Richard grinded his teeth, _how dare he? _His hand balled into a fist and as he approached his stepson, he said the words "Your enemy like most mobsters isn't me, but your mouth."

**-Blast from the past-**

Tammy Mancini, the once cheerleader and now nurse, left her station with the dream of being able to run a hot bath and feel nostalgic over her blast from the past. Her plans however were about to have a curve ball thrown at them when she walked to her car.

"Ta…"

The mumbling concerned her, so she dove her hand into her purse and diligently searched for her keys.

"Tam-my," she heard the out of breath voice but was too scared to take the time to identify it.

"Tammy!" The shout made her drop her purse and look up to see her blast from the past barely standing in the parking lot.

"What…" She lost her words as he held he neared the car.

"Get in…" He pointed at the car as he held his side, "Go on." He pointed once more until he got to the car where he felt himself collapsing and she somehow caught his fall.

"Who did this to you?" Tammy asked after observing his busted up lip and a bruised eye close up.

"Doesn't matter."

"Damian…" She paused, starting to lift up his shirt, but he stopped her, "Please." He looked her in the eyes, "I trust you."

"You need to be in a hospital!"

"No!" He shook his head, "What I need from you is to drive me to this place." He showed her the paper.

"But…"

"It's not closed, Tammy," he looked away from her holding his side, "Ah…" He held his breath and looked up at her, "Then I'll rest. I promise."

His stupidity left her dumbfounded, "You are so…" She couldn't put her finger on it, but his smile like he knew what she was going to say made her laugh, "Fine! But after this I'm fixing you up."

"We'll see."

"We'll see," she rolled her eyes, "Get in the car."

"Ha ha ow," Spinelli held his side to the car door, "Hey Tams?"

"Yeah?" She popped her head up after picking up her purse off the ground.

"Thank you," he smiled and she smiled back at him, "Yeah well I owe for all those times you helped me get an A on those tests."

"What As?" He teased as she unlocked the car.

"Hey!" She laughed offended.

He fell into his car seat, "I seem to only remember you getting…" He paused at the school photo on the dashboard.

"I know I only got Bs, but there was that time…"

"You've got a son?" He looked up curious and she froze.

"It's not important," she closed her car door and put her keys in the ignition.

"Yes it is," he took the photo off the dashboard, "You're a mom." He chuckled looking at the brown haired kid who wouldn't smile in his picture.

"Yeah well it's not all it's cracked up to be," she started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

"I can tell, great smile that kid has," Spinelli joked before putting the picture back.

"That's not funny, I spent all morning trying to get him to look perfect for that picture and he just…"

"Wanted to be…a kid."

"Laugh all you want, but wait till you have a kid, you'll see," she looked away from him to the paper that had the address on. "Okay, 1st Ave and Damian, what does this say? Your hand writing…" She looked up at him who was now staring out the window, "Something I said?"

"No um," he looked away from the window, "Um I think it says Elm Street."

"Okay," she nodded noticing sadness in his grin, "Well um here's a ice pack and I'll let you know when we're there. You rest."

"I wish I could, but thanks," he placed the ice pack on his eye and looked out the window. In the streets they passed he was tempted to ask her more questions, but not about her son, just more about the experience per say of being a mother. He wondered if she was the answer to helping him see his Maximista's point of view of their situation.

**-PO BOX 911-**

"I think we're almost there," she looked over to Spinelli about thirty minutes since they had left the hospital, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," he looked at her, "But I'll live…Hey," Spinelli's eyebrows furrowed seeing the Postal store in the distance.

"There it is," she looked back at him, "Where do you want me to park?"

"Here," he motioned to the side of the road.

"But…" She did as he said, but wondered why he didn't want her to park closer.

"Okay, now turn your lights off," he took the ice pack off his eye, "I won't be long." He exited the car without so much of a goodbye.

Spinelli hid in the shadows avoiding light at all costs. He reached for his phone and called the one other person he knew could hack, the kid who bought the pregnancy tests.

"Cody, this is the Jackal."

"The Jackal!"

Spinelli pulled the phone away from his hair in annoyance at his excited tone, "Ha yes kid. I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything."

"I need you to hack into some security cameras and delete some footage of me."

"And then replace it with footage that made it seem like you were never there?"

"Ye-ah," Spinelli never thought of that before.

"Piece of cake, give me your location."

"I'm at Oakfield Tree Postal Office in Oakfield Tennessee. I need all surrounding cameras…"

"I got it Mr. Jackal."

Spinelli smiled in relief that he wouldn't have to rush back home just to delete damning footage of him. He knew that would probably irritate Maxie and only make her ask more questions, so having his own tech support was quite handy.

"Give me just a minute…"

Spinelli leaned against a tree just outside the store and waited for the go. He reached into his pocket for the paper and key and looked to see how he was supposed to enter the building.

"Done."

"Thanks, I owe you."

"No problem, anything else I can do for you?"

Spinelli broke from the tree and walked to entrance where he typed in a seven-digit code, "Yeah. Hack into Oakfield County hospital and see if you can mess with footage of me at about 11:30 entering the hospital and then 11:55 leaving the hospital."

"No problem."

Spinelli opened the door and instantly saw rows of mailboxes in the very back, "Cody the feds might be watching any odd movements so make sure you're not in there for more than thirty seconds at a time."

"The feds?"

"If you can't do it I un-der-stand," Spinelli said distracted, looking for the number 911.

"No I can do it, but if I need reassurance."

Spinelli saw the box 911 and put the key in, "What is it?"

"I want you to start working on the stone cold saga again."

"Cody I don't have time…"

"Well I don't know if I can take the chance…"

"O-kaaay, I'll agree to start working on it again."

"You will?"

"Yes," Spinelli turned the key and opened the rather large PO BOX. There was a big brown envelope just as she said with his name on it and there was a small envelope with her husband's name on it. She didn't mention that, but he figured it was to cover her tracks.

"Mr. Jackal?"

"Here," Spinelli felt rushed suddenly. He grabbed the brown envelope and then closed the box, "How are you doing?"

"Just about done."

"Good." Spinelli said as he opened the store door and then disappeared back into the shadows.

"Finished," the Jackal in training responded and Spinelli smiled, "Thanks."

"I expect a level of the Stone Cold Saga in a month."

"And I will deliver," Spinelli approached the car, "I'll talk to you soon, let me know if you the feds give you any trouble."

"Sure thing."

Spinelli put his phone away and then opened the car door, "Back."

"Did you get what you were looking for?"

"Hopefully," he showed the envelope.

"Alright my place next."

"Um, not exactly."

"You promised!"

"Uh…"

"I'm not robbing a bank," she said knowing that wasn't the agenda, but she wasn't about to go any more crazy and potentially law-breaking adventures tonight.

"Neither am I," he grinned, "But I am going to the airport."

"And you expect me to take you there…" She sighed, putting the car into drive.

"No," he touched her hand and then looked out the windshield at the taxi pulling up.

"Damian…"

Spinelli reached into his pocket for his wallet, "I called them after my err grand father beat me up because I work for the people he swore an oath to bring down…"

"So its true? What they say about you on the news?"

"Not all of it, but most of it." He admitted his life was indeed that of crime and when she looked away from him, he figured he had disappointed her too, "You're disappointed, I know."

"No," she looked up at him, "I just wonder what…what's this?" She saw the business card and a few hundred-dollar bills in his hand.

"Thank you," he handed it forward, "This is a card with my number on it. If you ever need anything, call me and this," he looked at the cash, "is for you. For making something of your life."

"I don't need your money."

"Use it for groceries or bribe your son to smile in his next school photo. Use it for whatever. You helped me tonight," he pointed to the envelope, "I'm in debited to you."

She stared at him while shaking her head trying to figure him out, "You're the same, but you're different."

"You are too, the hair isn't bad."

"You said you liked it."

"I do, but I kind of miss the brown."

"I kind of miss you, um," she looked away embarrassed by her words, "What I meant is…"

"You don't have to correct yourself, sometimes I miss me too," he faintly smiled, "Take care."

It was in the way he said _sometimes I miss me too_ that bothered her, such sadness behind it. "What, what happened to you?" She said as he turned to open the car door, "Your dreams, do you remember those?" He looked down not sure of how to respond to her questions, "I mean you used to want to conquer the world and now…"

"I still have them," he looked over his shoulder with his eyes drawing to the photo on the dashboard.

"What is it?" She looked at him with eyes begging him to open up.

"Take care okay?" He got out of the car, not wanting to get into this with her. He held his side and then peered into the rolled down window, "Maybe we'll see each other again." He winked and then walked out of her life just as quickly as he entered it hours ago.

"So that's it?" He heard her knowing she was standing just beside her car now. "You're just going to leave, leave like you did five years ago without a goodbye?"

"Excuse me?" He turned to her wondering why this was coming up, "I don't have time for this Tammy."

"And why is that?" She left her car, "Why don't you have time to catch up with someone who at one point was your best friend?"

"Is that what we were? Friends?"

"The best."

"I seem to remember a different story," he tried to turn away, but her answer stopped him, "Or maybe you don't want to remember at all?"

He wasn't pleased with her conclusion because part of it was true. If he didn't remember then he didn't have to feel it. Being numb again never seemed like such a great idea at the moment.

"I see," she slowly shook her head when he didn't care to give her an answer. In a way it broke her heart to see such a change in his character, a change as night and day. "Well, you know what I remember Damian? I remember being in my room contemplating whether to tell you that the night we spent together meant more to me than you would probably ever know and then…This part I remember really well because just as I walked outside to go to your house the police showed up."

"Tammy," Spinelli said heartfelt for he knew she must have been talking about the night of the accident.

She wiped a floating tear from her eyelashes, "And it was like I knew before they even got out of the car, but I couldn't bring myself to believe it."

What was odd to him was that he believed all this time she didn't care, but by the look on her face and the confession she had made, it was becoming clearer that it wasn't the case.

"I watched as they knocked on the door and say…" She looked away having no idea herself that an event five years ago still had a tremendous affect on her, "That there had been an accident and that you might not make it through the night."

She closed her eyes bringing herself back to the moment that seemed to have changed her life forever, "I never thought that when it was all over I'd never see you again or that I'd never be able to tell you that I loved you." In the flashes of that night and the days that came after she was too caught up in it still to notice that he had walked from the curb right to her.

"Tammy."

"No you don't under-stand," she quieted down realizing how close his voice was and opened her eyes.

"Well you know what they say?"

She shook her head and he smiled softly, "Never say never."

"Never say never," she repeated with the same lingering smile.

They stared at each other in this contest for who was going to be the first to pull away. Sure there was a part of him that wanted to give in and kiss her and maybe go back to her place where they'd reignite the passion, but there was a force that kept him immobile. That force was no one or nothing other than Maxie, his precious Maximista.

"Goodbye Tammy," his voice broke the trance and his soft smile transformed into a grin that was ever so confident he made the right choice.

Her lip frowned that goodbye would be here on the side of a road rather than her bed at home, but she didn't fight his decision, "Goodbye."

He knew she was disappointed and he was disappointed that he couldn't will himself to make her desire come true. Maxie had hurt him tonight. No she had broken him, but that wasn't the excuse to use a perfectly good woman for his own sorrows. She deserved better and that's why he leaned in to kiss her cheek. To tell her that maybe in a different time and in a different place they'd meet again and feel different.

_Honk_.

Spinelli leaned away from her cheek, mesmerized her face and then backed away from her.

It was not how she expected her night to end, but she was almost content that it ended the way it did. Maybe she didn't need to tell him all that she would have at her home. Too much of the man she loved in high school was gone and while he'd always have a special place in her heart, she didn't know him anymore.

"Oh," he turned around as he reached the cab, "About my life now since you were so curious, I got the police commissioner's daughter pregnant," he paused as she started giggling, "Yeah I know, okay it's really not that funny."

"The police commissioner's daughter Damian?" She was quite amused by the trouble he'd gotten himself into considering his career.

"The point," he cleared his throat, "Is everything I try to say to convince her we can do this doesn't work. I know she's scared, but I told her I'd never leave her. I promised I'd quit my job, I even proposed and…"

"Da-mi-an," she giggled at his stupidity, but instead of teasing him about it, she saw the relative seriousness in his face, "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

"The world and she loved me until this happened." Spinelli shrugged his shoulders having no idea how to fix what he feared now was too late to undue, "I…I don't know what to do."

"Maybe there is nothing to do."

"No there is, there has to be, tell me what to do."

Why he thought she had all the answers was a mystery to her except for that he must really be that desperate to take advice from anyone, but then again she wasn't just anyone, "You want to know what to do?"

"Please."

"Alright, love her," she said it so simply, "Love her no matter what she decides to do."

"But what if I can't do that?"

"When you love someone their happiness means more than your own."

"You're the second person I know to have said that."

"Maybe because it's true."

"Or maybe because it's not," Jason gave up too easily on Elizabeth and Jake, why should he do the same?

"Ha, fine," she turned away from him, "Maybe it's not true. I mean what would I know about it right?" She looked at him point blank and when he gave her this quizzical look she turned to her car.

"Well wait! What do you expect me to say to that?" He asked for he felt like in some part she was blaming him for not knowing why she knows about sacrificing your happiness for someone else.

"Forget it!" She walked back to her car.

"Fine Tammy!" He turned his back to her and walked to the taxi, "I guess we'll go another five years misunderstanding what each other was trying to say here." He threw the car door open and shouted at the driver, "Oakfield airport!" He threw his envelope in the back seat and then stuck his head out wanting to yell something else at her, but saw her defeated face. She didn't want to leave things this way anymore than he did.

"Damian…"

The uncertainty on her face made him wonder if it was worth sticking around just to see what it was that suddenly had her torn up, "What is it your not telling me?"

"It doesn't matter," she could see the picture of her little boy from the corner of her eye, "I just hope everything works out for you."

"Really?" He asked feeling like that wasn't it.

She nodded, "Yeah and when you go home to her tonight, don't pressure her with marriage or feeling responsible for quitting a job you obviously enjoy. You scared her with all the changes. Just…Just love her, okay? That's how you convince her."

"I think I can do that."

"Good," she smiled faint.

"Thank you," Spinelli smiled with a new built of confidence in him.

"So I guess this is goodbye then?"

"Or maybe it's until we meet again?" Spinelli raised an eyebrow for goodbye sounded so final and maybe this time around they would see each other again, sooner than five years.

"Well then until we meet again," she bobbed her head and Spinelli winked back. She watched as he stepped into the taxi and then she got into her car. When the taxi left her sight, she glanced at the picture and wondered if she should have told him that in the devastation of his accident, her son was conceived with his best friend, the soldier in Iraq, Brandon.

**-Coming Home-**

The taxi ride back to the private landing strip was silent. Spinelli had lied back in the seat formulating ways to approach his Maximista when he got home. Something in him was hopeful now, maybe it was because he realized that in the argument he had with her tonight that maybe Tammy was onto something. Maybe all the changes he suggested had scared her off. It made sense. Spinelli smiled in that moment. Seeing the error in his ways was more hope than he ever imagined and it was a feeling he never thought he'd feel by the end of the night. If only this was the end of the night.

"Well we're just about there," the taxi driver looked over his shoulder and saw the envelope on the carpet, "Don't forget your belongings."

Spinelli followed his eyes and saw the package he had forgotten about, "Thanks." He picked the package off the floor and read his name that was spelled in caps. The detective in him knew it was material to open up in a more private setting, but the Jackal in him was too sedated to play the game of paranoia since he first landed in Oakfield. He ran his finger along the back of the envelope to notice the gum had never been licked. The contents were then only sealed through a metal clasp. If the information had been so important wouldn't she have taken more extreme measures protect it? Something wasn't right here.

"Uh sir?" Spinelli had failed to notice they pulled up to the gate of the landing strip, "Do you know the code?"

Spinelli undid the clasp and as his fingers lifted up the seal he looked up at the driver, "61432". Spinelli saw to it that the gate opened and when it did he looked back down the now open envelope. Pandora's box had been opened. Now for what lied in it.

"Wow this is some airport," the driver said in aw like he had never been to the place before.

"Ye-ah it is," Spinelli said mono toned as his hand grasped a folder.

There was no movement about the place at two in the morning and that worried the driver, "Hey are you sure we're allowed to be here?"

Spinelli's hand slowly slid out a white manila folder that he realized he had taken out backwards. As he flipped it over he thought in that split second how thin it was and as he stared at it correctly he concluded that the few papers in it would be nothing ordinary.

**AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY**

**FBI**

**CLASSIFIED INVESTIGATION FILE**

**CASE # DS917220124 DATE: 01/13/1986**

*D.S. were his initials.

*917-22-0124-His social security number

*January 13th, 1986 was the day he was born.

It was as if someone took the wind out of him. No. It was like he had been shot. The more he analyzed the cover the less he could breathe.

_This is just the first of many lies I've told to protect you from the line of work you found on your own. _

Spinelli gasped for the strength to communicate to the driver, "Uh, I'm so-sorry what?" Spinelli glanced up from the Department of Justice seal to see the driver was no in on what he had in his hands.

"Oh um," the driver looked away, "I was just wondering if you have permission to be on here I don't want my…" And then he stopped talking as Spinelli reached into his pocket. "Look I don't know what you think I saw, but…" Then he saw a wad of cash in Spinelli's hand, "You saw nothing." Spinelli looked him in the eyes of the rear view mirror, "Nothing."

The driver took the money and kept his eyes up away from the information that was about to blow Spinelli away.

**BIRTH CERTIFICATE**

**NAME-DAMIAN SPINELLI**

**MOTHER-MYRIAM SPINELLI FATHER-BILLY SPINELLI**

The certificate looked standard. He knew from his mother's confessions years ago that she was his mother and therefore his grandfather was actually his stepfather whom they had written as his real father as a cover up. He looked over it a few seconds more and saw nothing peculiar so he moved on.

**BIRTH CERTIFICATE**

Another one? No it couldn't be right? He looked over it only to see the information was…different.

**NAME-DAMIAN SMITH**

The driver had been quiet since Spinelli shut him up with cash, but as they drove onto the runaway, he for some reason didn't expect to see a plane still parked on the tarmac.

**MOTHER-MYRIAM SMITH**

Since he was a child he dreamed of the moment he discovered who his father was and for some reason as he stared at the name, it wasn't playing out like he fantasized.

**FATHER-FRANK SMITH**

"Well it looks like they've been ready for you sir."

Spinelli snapped his head at the abandoned plane not taking a moment to process the information. Paranoia slipped back into his mind as he remembered giving strict orders not to wait on the tarmac and there the plane was, stairs down, lights on, ready to go. Spinelli shoved the file back into the envelope and then after making sure nothing was left behind he said thanks to the driver and exited the cab. It was when he was walking up to the plane that Spinelli suddenly wished he had a gun on him for protection. Little did he know he actually did. Located in the envelope was a Black Model 40 Smith & Wesson and when Spinelli motioned to tuck the envelope into his jacket, a light bulb went off discovering the light pocket revolver. _SMITH _was inscribed and as much as Spinelli wanted to take honor in the fact that he bestowed his father's weapon, it made him sick. Every step he crept up the staircase, his mind processed then that he was the son of a mob boss, the most infamous of them all, and a new questioned entered his mind, _how am I going to tell Maxie?_

"Freeze!" Spinelli shouted at the sight of a man slowly getting up from the carpet.

"Woah! Watch where you point that!" The old pilot freaked with his hands up.

Spinelli instantly lowered the revolver, "What the heck happened to you?"

"Good question!" He tried to get up, but couldn't so Spinelli helped him over to a chair.

"Captain," Spinelli rushed to the bar to get him a bottled of water and then handed it to the man still catching his breath, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I talked to you and then," he looked over to the spot he had been lying down, "I turned and…" The sixty-year old started to sniff his hands and soon Spinelli smelled a whiff of it too.

"You were chloroformed."

"You thinkin' what I'm thinking kid?"

Spinelli wasn't so sure if home was on the mind, but he hoped it was, he hoped that he was coherent enough to fly them home for he had enough time in Oakfield.

"Spinelli! Get Jasper on the phone, we're headin' home!" And so Spinelli did as he was instructed, he got Jax on the phone and told him to them at the airport. When all was said and done, Spinelli fixed himself a drink, nectar of the gods, and spent the next two hours figuring out the fact from fiction in his life. When the end of the night approahced he came to the conclusion that love would never be enough and that when you love someone their happiness _does_ means more than your own.

* * *

Next Chapter!

Spinelli comes home with the answer Maxie thought she wanted.

Thanks for reading! PLEASE REVIEW!


	39. Home is where he'll never return

Chapter 39

_Home_ is where he left his _heart_

Witness Protection Program is what it was. In 1985 his father according to the papers that Richard, the agent assigned to the case who is the now director, was up for parole. On March 3rd his mother visited Frank in Petonville asking for a divorce. It dawned on Spinelli that this must have been when he was conceived. The guards reported this for the day:

_Mrs. Smith entered Mr. Smith's holding cell. Minutes later an argument about divorce starts and Mrs. Smith says his activities have tainted their marriage. Mr. Smith then questions why she didn't ask for divorce 5 years ago when he first entered prison and then accuses her of having an affair. Silence. Then ten minutes later Mr. Smith causes an uproar calling his wife obscene names and Mrs. Smith shouts for help. When we entered the room, Mr. Smith was strangling his wife. We pulled Frank off her and urged Mrs. Smith to leave, but she refused. After we handcuffed Frank to the table, Mrs. Smith urged Frank to sign the papers. Frank apologized and promised in his parole that he would be a better husband. Mrs. Smith was not interested and went onto explain that the two were simply different people now. She further excluded that it was best to separate before everything they ever were to each other was lost altogether. Sobs are heard, the two reunite briefly and Mrs. Smith leaves the cell with her signature and a missing button on her blouse._

How ironic that the day she thought she had ended her connection to him she made a new one. The rest of the details in the file weren't important to him. Not the date of the divorce or the decline for parole. All that was important was that he, Damian Spinel-Smith, was the son of a mob boss. No matter what he did that would always stick with him and as long as he was with Maxie it would stick with her too and she didn't deserve that kind of life.

It was about 3 in the morning when Spinelli pulled up to the commissioner's house in his Aston Martin. He turned to the engine off, took the key out of the ignition and went to drop the keys in his jacket pocket when he saw the envelope on the passenger seat. It was like he had forgotten he put it there. In the half an hour drive from the airport the silence had sedated his thoughts. Now that silence had been muffled by Spinelli's outrage to shove his true identity into the safe-like glove compartment. He hugged the steering wheel and let out a bitter cry. Whatever she would say to him upon walking through that front door didn't matter anymore. Eventually the truth would come out. He would have enemies and those enemies would stop at nothing to get what they want. Michael, poor comatose Michael was barely living proof of that. The violence would destroy them and their love would be as toxic as Sonny's and Carly's. The hate would drive them apart like Johnny and Lulu and leave them with stares of what could have been like Jason and Elizabeth. The years he had spent in the background of these people's lives had met its purpose tonight; to learn from their mistakes and thus Damian Spinelli left his car as Damian Smith. Walking onto the green grass, he approached the couch that seemed to symbolize the beginning and the end of the night. If he ever heard _Never gonna give you up_ again, it would be too soon.

"Spinelli?" Johnny called his name with one eye open, "What the hell happened to you?"

Spinelli chuckled, "The Jackal lost a fight."

"I'll say," Johnny leaned up from the couch, "You're not going in like that are you?"

"The Jackal isn't staying for long."

"Hey Spinelli," Johnny softened his voice, "I'm not approving of what she wants to do but, she really didn't think you were coming back."

Spinelli pretended that Johnny's words had affected whatever decision he was going to make, "Glad that couch came of use."

Johnny looked at it, "Yeah, it's quite comfy."

"I thought so too," Spinelli's smile froze.

Johnny glanced up at Spinelli wanting so see what he meant by his remark, but saw him turning away and approaching the house Spinelli didn't fancy himself coming to again.

When he entered the home, Lulu was fast asleep on the couch.

_You didn't know. _

_But I did. I knew Lulu and I didn't lift a finger to help when I knew I could…_

_Oh come on Spinelli, don't do that to yourself._

He would miss Lulu, his one and loyal friend, he would miss the light that always reminded him that he was better than he actually was. Spinelli walked passed the living room when as he walked to the staircase he saw the back patio.

_You are the most important person in my life, which means you come first and I should have done a better job of doing that. I'm sorry for being the insensitive jerk I was, I never meant to be that._

Lulu stirred in that moment he had flashed back to coming home. Looking at the living room he remembered how the insensitive jerk he promised to never be again, returned.

_I always wondered how much a night with you would cost._

Spinelli nodded his head in complete and utter disappointment of himself. His behavior was inexcusable. He could have reacted better, he could have respected her better, he could have done it all better and he didn't. He walked to the stairs and when he reached the top of the staircase he saw himself falling off of it and the words he said to cause Mr. Scorpio to do what he regretted.

_I knew you didn't have the guts._

Something about his temper wasn't right and while he wanted to believe that it was just genetic, what if it wasn't? What if it was something to do with the shooting and the surgery and his head? But even so, even if it was just a condition at the moment, he didn't have a reason to get treatment for it. For tonight he'd leave everything that was his reason to live. Her door was closed when he stopped in front of it. How could he be so close yet so far away from her?

_I want to know how the Jackal operates._

_Well, it's pretty simple. _

Spinelli closed his eyes, he was so close to her then literally his body was so close to hers for she was leaning against the doorframe.

_Seek._

He softly kissed her neck.

_Attack._

He whispered into her ear.

_Destroy._

He almost kissed her lips when she started giggling.

_Um…I have to pee._

Spinelli smiled, she looked so adorable in that moment.

_And you couldn't wait till after I kiss you?_

_Spinelli it's not funny._

_Oh I think it's plenty funny._

Inside he was screaming, his heart pleading him not to end what brought him memories that put a smile on his face. Spinelli touched the doorknob and slowly opened the door to see she had fallen asleep with the TV on. Oh how haunting it was that every little thing and place in this house held a memory of them.

_What's wrong Mr. Superman?_

_Nothing Ms. Lane._

_Then why at the very best part of the story did you turn it off?_

_Because I already know how the story ends. I'd kiss you but this ragged hair of mine is blocking my eyesight and unfortunately this superhero doesn't have x-ray vision._

_Oh whatever will you do Clark?_

_Hope that perhaps Lois will come to my rescue._

_Well I suppose._

_My hero._

She was curled in a ball on the bed. He hoped that in all the hurt she had found a way to calm herself down and get some rest. He couldn't bear the thought of causing her physical pain because of the words they exchanged or the worry he left her with. He closed the door behind him and then walked over to her bedside. He reached over her for the remote, turned off the TV and then looked towards the blanket. Pulling the blanket over her, he gently pushed her blond strands to the side and kissed her neck and then her check.

Electricity, life, flowed through her again. Maxie awoke to the tender kiss with a smile on her face. He came home Spinelli came home. When she heard him kneel up from the bed, she waited till he had left her side to turn and look at him. When she did, she saw a man holding his side until he reached the dresser.

He was hurt and she sprung up from her pillow wanting to help him in anyway she could, "Spinelli?"

He looked over his shoulder and knew in the moonlight that shined in the room, she would be able to see his bruised and battered face. It was all part of an act, an act to prove that what she wanted he wanted as well. When he looked back at himself in the mirror he spoke the words she thought she had wanted to hear, "I'll do whatever you want to do."

"No," it wasn't supposed to happen like that. He wasn't supposed to just give in.

A small smile formed along his mouth at hearing the reluctance to his statement, but that single moment of happiness turned bitter. He probably could have convinced her tonight, but this wasn't about what he wanted anymore. It was about her and what she wanted and what was best for the greater good and she was that greater good. He turned to face her, his heart breaking, and froze his smile, "You should be asleep." He walked over to the bed motioning to the covers, but did he really think Maxie wouldn't notice what he was trying to cover something up?

"Spinelli…"

_Hold it in, hold it in Jackal, _but how could he do that when her hands were softly cupping his cheeks, "Don't push me away."

"I'm not," he tried to say convincingly, but she traced the cut on his lip.

"Who did this to you?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't," he took her hands off his face, "The only thing that matters here is you."

"But you matter too."

"Maximista," he took a seat on her bed, "I saw my…grandmother's eyes tonight and they had regret in them. Not because of the years we wasted, but that my last memory of her would be in a hospital." He paused, remembering the longing in her eyes to be elsewhere, "I…I didn't care to know her as much as I wish I had now, but the one thing I did know is that she would never have wanted the people she loved to see her the way she looked tonight." She watched him turn away then and rest his elbows on his knees and fold his hands into his face, "I wanted so very much to take her out of there."

"Why didn't you?"

He thought about how he was going to answer that question with all the revelations that were revealed and then he turned to her once more for the final time this night, "She re-married a few months ago and he loved her too much to let her go…but the way I see it is he didn't love her at all. Because if he did, he wouldn't have made her spend her last moments like this." His mother was miserable; the man she had married made her miserable living as long as she had with the illness. To Spinelli, he didn't want his desires and his now known identity to make his Maximista miserable.

"Maxie," he took her hand, "I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do."

"Spinelli…"

"I love you and nothing will ever change that."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing," he pulled her into a hug and held onto her as long as the night would let him. He slept by her for the next four hours dreaming of the life he'd never let them have. It was the greatest dream he ever had. When the sun shined into the room, he quietly slipped out of bed, got dressed and then walked to the door. In the doorway, he looked at her one last time to let the sweet glow about her be instilled in his mind forever.

_If you're happy then I'm happy._

* * *

I won't give you any details on the next chapter. I would say there is about one-two chapters left with an epilogue. I'm considering a sequel, but it depends on the reviews I get. I know a lot people read this story so please review! Thanks.

Okay...I will give you a hint...the song "Off I go" by Greg Laswell played at the end of grey's anatomy in there last season.

Look for...

*Lulu begs him to stay

*A soldier dies

*Jax plays the messenger

*Jason signs it all away

*Diane says farewell

*Sonny gets in deep with Karpov

*Patrick gives bad news to a patient

*Sam and Robin play matchmaker

and...

*Maxie makes her decision.


End file.
